The Chase
by gayfic33
Summary: When Bryce and Clay are put on a project together, the two get closer than expected. Bryce is surprised by how much he likes Clay, and how much Clay doesn't want him. Though Clay likes Bryce, he wants him to work for it first. Thus begins the chase.
1. The Project

Bryce Walker and Clay Jensen have never once spoken to each other. Clay knows who Bryce is, always admiring his hair, attitude, and extreme wealth. Bryce, on the other hand, has no idea who Clay is. They have had multiple classes together throughout the years, but Bryce has absolutely no idea who Clay Jensen is. That is until today…

"Bryce and Clay." The teacher finishes listing out the project partners.

Bryce looks around the room for Clay, unable to figure out who he is until Clay looks directly to him from across the room. Clay smiles and Bryce just nods his head to him. Clay sits for the rest of the class thinking about partnering up with Bryce. He has heard a thousand different things about Bryce, half of them being very bad. But once class ends, Clay is frozen as Bryce walks up to his desk.

"Hey. Clay, right?" Clay just nods his head. "Okay… well you free after school?"

"Yeah." Clay manages to speak.

"Great. We'll go to my place and start the project."

"Great."

"Meet me at the front doors and we'll leave from there." Bryce just walks away, leaving Clay in a frozen state of fear and excitement.

**AFTER SCHOOL…**

Clay goes straight to the front doors and sits on a bench. He sits there and waits. He waits as he watches hundreds of students talk, jump in cars and buses, and leave. Almost 30 minutes pass before Bryce walks out.

"Sorry man, coach needed to talk," Bryce says as he walks by Clay, Clay getting up and quickly following him to his car.

"That's fine." Clay quietly says before hopping into the passenger seat.

The car ride is silent. Bryce puts music on, not very loud though. Clay looks straight forward, trying to think of what to say. Bryce checks texts on his phone every couple of minutes, chuckling sometimes. When they arrive at Bryce's house, Clay is honestly not surprised by its large size, always imagining it to be big.

"Hey." Clay snaps out of his daze when he hears Bryce from outside the car.

"Oh. Yeah." Clay leaves the car and follows Bryce into the house. "Wow."

"Oh, it's nothing. You should see the ski chalet." Bryce brags. "Soda? Water?"

"No thanks." Clay is getting more nervous as he follows Bryce up the stairs and towards his bedroom.

"So what do you wanna do about this project? Any idea?" Bryce opens the door to let Clay into his enormous bedroom. "You can sit anywhere." Clay sits down on the bed, Bryce sitting next to him.

"Well… I was thinking…" Clay clears his throat. "Maybe something like mapping our genomes and the genomes passed down from our families." Clay takes a deep breath in.

"Is that a lot of work?"

"No. Not really." Their eyes meet.

"Good." Bryce moves in out of nowhere and kisses Clay, Clay taking it all in for a second before pushing back and standing up.

"Um…" Clay runs his hands through his hair.

"I saw the way you were looking at me. You want me more than anyone I've ever seen."

"I'm… I'm… I'm not… gay…" Clay starts breathing heavily.

"Neither am I," Bryce smirks as he stands up and places both his hands on Clay's waist. "Just let me handle this." Bryce whips Clay's belt off with one quick and seamless yank.

"Wow." Clay holds himself back from smiling.

"Take it all off." Bryce demands.

"I will if you do." Clay doesn't know what comes over him, but he and Bryce like it.

"One at a time," Bryce says as he whips off his belt.

As Bryce starts taking his shirt off, Clay does the same. They continue down to the pants. Then the boxers. Oh, the boxers. Once Bryce takes his boxers off Clay finds himself become rock hard and feeling hotter than ever before. Bryce's large and thick penis makes Clay uneasy, unlike anything he's ever felt before. All Clay wants to do is touch it.

"I'm…" Clay takes a deep breath in. "I'm ready." Bryce smiles before stepping up to Clay and pushing him on the bed.

"You sure? It's gonna hurt a lot."

"I've never been so sure." Clay bites his lip.

Bryce climbs on top of Clay and they begin kissing again. Their lips smack with passion, saliva swapping. Bryce's lips are soft, while Clay's are rough. Clay slides his hand down and grabs hold of Bryce's penis, it feels better than his imagination could ever imagine.

"Ow!" Bryce says as Clay grips his penis just a little too hard.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Just let me take the lead."

"Yeah. Yeah." Clay tries not to laugh at what he just did.

Bryce grabs his penis from Clay's hand and lines it up Clay's hole. He slic\kly slips just the tip in, wiggling it around.

"Ready?" Bryce asks once more and the second he sees Clay nod he shoves his penis in.

"Fuck!" Clay shouts.

"Had to rip the bandage off." Bryce laughs before sliding his penis out and then back in again.

"Oh…" Clay moans from the release of pleasure that begins to fill his body along with the pain.

"Yeah. Yeah." Bryce begins moaning as he goes in and out of Clay quicker and quicker, feeling himself getting closer to the end.

Each thrust makes Clay squint in pain, then sigh in the relief of the pleasure. Each thrust makes Bryce get more energetic. Each thrust makes Bryce closer to the end.

"God yes!" Bryce shouts ten minutes later when he feels himself getting close. "Close!"

"God, you're hot! YOu're the hottest guy ever! I've thought about this since the fourth grade. Well not this exactly, but kissing, and just touching and stuff. Especially your hair. I've had many wet dreams that involved me running my hands through your hair!" Clay shouts and rants as the pleasure overcomes his body in a wave of joy.

"Damn!" Bryce shouts as he explodes into Clay's ass.

"Oh…" Clay moans, staring up at BRyce's sweaty body.

"Damn!" Bryce shouts, smiling as he slides his penis out of Clay, running his hands through his sweaty hair. "Damn…" Bryce moans as he falls on the bed next to Clay.

"That was the best thing I've ever experienced." Clay starts laughing.

"It was pretty amazing." Bryce smiles, turning over and looking at Clay laughing. "You're pretty amazing." Bryce doesn't know why he says that, but it just blurts out.

"Really?" Clay stops laughing and turns to face Bryce.

"Yeah…" Bryce just accepts what he said, he meant it.

"You're pretty amazing too." Their eyes just stare into each other. "But I'm sure this was just a one-time thing." Clay sits up, breaking the trance. "YOu must do this with all your partners." Clay laughs, throwing his shirt on.

"Um…" Bryce is speechless.

"I'll go home and start working on the project. You don't need to do anything." Clay pulls his pants up.

"Yeah. Yeah." Bryce snaps out of it and gets out of bed. "I do this all the time." Bryce sounds off, but Clay doesn't notice as he walks out of his room. "You need a ride?" Bryce says but Clay is already out the door.

Bryce walks over to his window and looks out at Clay walking down the driveway and down the street. He watches him until he can no longer, the smile leaving his face.


	2. The Bathroom

"Hey Bryce!" Bryce hears from down the hall as he enters the school.

"Hey!" Bryce shouts back as he walks towards Monty and Zach.

As Bryce walks down the hall he sees Clay at his locker. He watches as Clay takes his sweater off, the bottom of his stomach popping out for just a second. Bryce just wants to push Clay against the locker and begin kissing him, but then snaps out of it as Monty goes to shake his hand.

"Hey man!" Zach greets Bryce.

"Hey."

"What's up?" Zach looks worried.

"Oh. Nothin'. Didn't sleep much."

"Too much pussy?" Monty shouts, Bryce and Zach faking laughter.

Bryce looks over to Clay's locker, Clay looking over for just a second before turning around and walking away.

"Yeah…" Bryce says before they walk away towards class.

"Seriously dude. You good?" Zach says leaning in close to Bryce.

"Yeah dude. Seriously. It's good." Bryce smiles and pats Zach on the back. "Low lighten up. We have a party to plan for tonight."

"What party?" Monty chimes in.

"The one I just decided to throw at my place." Bryce and Monty high five

"Yes man!"

**LUNCH**

"I'll see you at the cafeteria. Gotta go to my locker first." Bryce says to Scott before splitting apart.

Bryce walks down the hall against the flow of foot traffic and to his locker. As he opens up his locker he looks down the hall to see Clay at his. He looks over, hoping for Clay to look over as well, but he doesn't. He watches Clay close his locker and walk into the bathroom. Bryce is ready to turn around and head to lunch, but his body moves towards the bathroom without thought. He opens the bathroom door and immediately checks under the stalls. When he sees it's only him and Clay, he closes and locks the door.

"Bryce…" Clay says as he washes his hands. "What are you doin'?"

"I think you know what I'm doing." Bryce, from behind, begins kissing Clay's neck.

"No." Clay pushes him back and turns around.

"Come on." Bryce smiles, moving in and trying to kiss Clay's lips, but he moves to the side.

"I said no. This isn't happening again."

"Why not? I…" Bryce turns around and runs his hands through his hair.

"You what?" Clay is curious.

"I like you." Bryce blurts out.

"You don't know me!" Clay shouts and begins laughing. "Yesterday was the first day you even spoke to me… and we've been in the same school since kindergarten!"

"Well…" Bryce doesn't know what to say to that.

"Well, what? You spoke to me for the first time yesterday because we were forced together. Then we have some… amazing sex… and now you know me… and like me?"

"Yes. And what's wrong with that? I want to get to know you… more."

"That's hilarious. You just want more sex." Clay walks to the door.

"Stop." Bryce puts his hand on the door.

"What? You're not gonna let me leave now?"

"No. Yes. I mean… you can leave, just give me a chance."

"There is no chance."

"There's always a chance." Bryce kisses Clay on the neck. "Come to my house tonight. I'm throwing a party. We can get to know each other there."

"Maybe."

"You really should. I promise you will not regret it." Bryce kisses Clay on his neck again, this time Clay closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in.

"Fine." Clay turns around, pushing Bryce back. "I will give you this one shot. Let's see how good you really are." Clay smiles before kissing Bryce on the lips and turning around, leaving the bathroom.

"Damn…" Bryce whispers to himself, running his hands through his hair.

"Excuse me." A random kid tries to enter the bathroom.

"Shut up! Get out of here!" Bryce shouts at the kid, who runs around.

Bryce closes the bathroom door, locking it again, then goes into one of the stalls. He takes his pants down and his phone out. He looks at his phone, scrolling and pressing around until he stops on an image of Clay from his Instagram. Bryce grabs his hard penis and begins yanking it. Starring at the picture of Clay, Bryce finds himself imagining things. He imagines running his hands through his soft hair. Scrapping his nails down Clay's weirdly pale and regular pecs and "abs". He starts imagining Clay's mouth around his penis. Closing his eyes Bryce imagines Clay sucking him off, seconds later exploding quickly into his palm.

"Oh…" Bryce moans as he closes his eyes and imagines kissing Clay afterward. "Whoo!" Bryce shouts before standing up and peeing into the toilet. "Damn I'm gonna get that boy." Bryce smiles as he walks to the sink and washes his hands.


	3. The Party

**CLAY**

Honestly, he isn't worried. Clay gets dressed for the party as he would for any other, though he's never been to one before. He finds himself spending a lot of time, however, fixing his hair. He moves his hair left, then right, the spikes it up a little. He looks at himself in the mirror and nearly laughs at himself for how hard he's trying for freakin' Bryce Walker.

"Damn." Clay sighs as he puts his hair back to normal.

Clay goes to his bed and lays down, looking at his phone. He goes onto Instagram and looks at Bryce's profile. He scrolls down looking at Bryce's amazing life. He watches as Bryce hangs with his group of guy friends that he's been hanging with since birth. He watches Bryce party over and over. He looks at the hundreds of likes and comments that tell him how hot and amazing he is. Everything about Bryce's Instagram makes Clay remember why he hates Bryce so much… but something in him still wants Bryce so badly.

Clay looks down to see his penis is rock solid and his bulge is trying to push through his pants. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to push the thoughts of Bryce away. Each time he takes a breath in and tries to forget about Bryce, he just remembers more of him. He remembers the feeling of Bryce's lips on his. He thinks about his crunchy hair that he only felt for a second but wants to do so much with. He thinks about that rock hard body that he wants to sit on and lick.

"Oh god!" Clay almost shouts when he realizes he has pre-cum seeping through his boxers and pants. "Damn…" Clay gets up to change pants.

**BRYCE**

His friends came over right after school to prepare for the party. They brought tons of drinks and food. He is letting Monty handle everything while he gets ready. As he's in the shower he takes very slow and deep breathes, thinking hard about how he wants the night to go. He starts imaging the perfect night. One where Clay comes over. Where they go up to his room, sit on his bed, and talk. Something about imagining this feels weird to Bryce, but he loves it. He loves the idea of sitting and talking to someone else. He's never had that before.

He wants to know everything about Clay, everything that he hasn't already found out on social media. He wants to know what he does to go to sleep. He wants to know his favorite shirt. His favorite food. If he's close to his family. If they go somewhere or stay home for the holidays. He wants to know everything he can possibly know.

"Hey dude! Can I come in?" Bryce hears Monty outside his bathroom door.

"No. In the shower. What do you need?" Bryce turns the shower off.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure. What do you need?" Bryce says again.

"Where's the switch for the pool lights?"

"The wall by the back door."

"Great!" Bryce can hear his bedroom slam shut.

Bryce gets out of the shower, immediately looking at himself in the mirror. _Is this me? The real me?_ Bryce thinks as he dries himself off. Bryce shrugs it off and puts a smile on his face while he finishes getting ready for the party.

**ALMOST 10 PM**

The party has been going hard for about an hour now. Everyone is at the party, or at least anyone worth knowing. Bryce is many drinks in as he waits for Clay to show up, yet isn't even tipsy yet. He's won two rounds of beer pong, done a funnel, and a keg stand. As each minute passes Bryce goes another step farther. But it all changes, while he stands by the pool, watching as Clay comes out the back door looking better than ever.

"What's he doing here?" Monty laughs, wrapping an arm around Bryce and taking a chug out of a beer.

"Who?" Bryce tries to move the subject off of Clay.

"That dweeb." Monty basically points to Clay with his beer, Clay noticing.

"I don't know." Bryce drinks his beer. "Nerd probably got lost." Monty laughs, but Bryce doesn't.

"Is that Jensen?" Justin says walking up to Bryce and Monty.

"Is that his name?" Bryce can't stop looking at Clay.

"Yeah. He's in my Civics class." Justin walks away to play beer pong with Zach.

"Should we throw him in the pool?" Monty looks to Bryce, an uncontrollable smile on his face.

"No…" Bryce doesn't know what to say to not sound weird. "I'll handle him." He isn't lying.

Bryce walks away from Monty, who howls into the sky and jumps on Zach's shoulders. Bryce walks up to Clay, who's just standing there without a drink or talking to anyone.

"Hey Jensen." Clay can tell that Bryce sounds different.

"Hey Walker."

"Let's get you a drink." Bryce puts his arm around Clay's shoulder and walks him inside. "Beer? Vodka? Rum?" Bryce and Clay walk into the empty kitchen.

"None of the above."

"Really?" Bryce slides his hand against Clay's leg.

"Really?" Clay steps back. "I think I'm going to leave." Clay begins walking out of the kitchen.

"Wait." Bryce's tone changes, making Clay turn around.

"Yeah?" Clay smirks.

"I just want to… talk…"

"Talk?"

"Yeah… just talk."

"Really? Nothing else?" Clay doesn't believe Bryce at all.

"Dude! What's going on?" Just then Monty, Zach, Justin, and Scott all walk into the kitchen shouting.

"Hey Jensen!" Zach shouts as he shakes hands with Clay.

"Hey." Clay quietly says, uncomfortable in all of this.

"What's going on?" Monty playfully says as he wraps his arm around Bryce, putting himself between Bryce and Clay. "You guys making out?" Monty jokes and Bryce's demeanor instantly changes.

"Make out with this nerd? Of course not! I'm not even gay like you Monty!" Bryce shouts before chugging the beer from Monty's hand.

"Oh!" The other guys shout while laughing at that.

"I'm no fag!" Monty shouts. "He's the fag!" Monty says while looking at Clay.

Clay says nothing as he turns away and walks out of the kitchen, turning his head to make eye contact with Bryce. Their eyes connect and though Bryce's eyes look sad, Clay can't accept that behavior. As Clay walks out the front door and down the steps, he hears the front door open.

"Please." Clay turns to see Bryce. "I'm so sorry. Just meet me upstairs. Let me get the guys busy and we can talk up in my room."

"I'm leaving." Clay walks over to his bike.

"Come on. Please. I didn't mean any of that. It's just those guys… they… they expect me to be one way, and they wouldn't accept me if they knew the truth." Bryce walks back up the stairs, hoping Clay will follow, but he doesn't. "Please. I'll be up in my room in five minutes. I'm hoping to see you there." Bryce walks into the house, leaving Clay standing there thinking.

After Bryce corrals the guys to go into the pool house and play some video games, Bryce walks to his room, hoping to god that Clay is sitting in there. But when he opens his bedroom door, nothing. Bryce walks to his bed and sits down. He sits there for a minute, his face in his hands.

As Bryce just thinks about how much he just fucked up, his door opens and he whips his head up.

"Hey." Monty walks into Bryce's room.

"Hey." Bryce scoots over so Monty can sit next to him.

"You know… it's been a while since we…" Monty puts his hand on Bryce's leg.

"No. Not again." Bryce moves Monty's hand.

"Come on…" Monty slurs his speech a little while he pulls Bryce's zipper down.

"No…" Bryce doesn't fight back as much once Monty takes his penis out, grabbing it with his hand.

"I know you love the full Monty." Monty moves his head down and takes Bryce's penis into his mouth.

"Oh…" Bryce moans as Monty expertly takes his penis down his throat and begins sucking on his balls.

Bryce looks forward, digging his fingers through Monty's hair. As Bryce looks straight at the door, the door opens and Clay stares Bryce directly in the eyes.

"Oh " Clay says softly enough that Bryce can hear, but Monty doesn't notice in the moment.

Clay begins closing the door to leave.

"No!" Bryce shouts, but Clay closes the door and Monty sits up.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Monty then kisses Bryce's cheek. "I'm so sorry babe."

"Damn." Bryce falls back on the bed while Clay leaves the house and goes home.


	4. The Next Day

BRYCE - Last Night

Bryce hated himself for the rest of the night, though he still let Monty finish the blowjob. Afterward, he kicked Monty out of his room and locked the door. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and started writing. He was venting everything he felt. He wrote every feeling he had. He wrote about how he felt towards Clay, about what happened that night. Opposite of how he normally acts, he wrote down his true feelings and said the complete and utter truth. Then he crumpled the piece of paper in his hands and threw it in the trash. He turned around and punched the wall as hard as he could, breaking the skin on his fist and bleeding into the wall.

CLAY - Last Night

Clay ran out of their like never before. On his way down the stairs, he grabbed a shot from someone's hand and took it before walking out of the house. He grabbed his bike and started going. Not going anywhere specific, but just going. He can't believe he fell for it. He fell for Bryce Walker. How could he have believed Bryce had liked him? Bryce was just playing with him and he knew it all along, but couldn't stop thinking of the small chance it was all real. God, he was stupid! That just kept running through his head. That's when a bright white light shocked him out of his head and into the fact that a car was right next to him and going right towards him.

BRYCE - This Morning

Bryce wakes up in his living room, on the floor, and his head on the couch. The second the sun hits his eyes, a massive headache bangs through his forehead. He looks around to see Monty, Zach, and Justin lying around him dead asleep. The rest of the living room is a complete shit show. Solo cups are all over the floor and the furniture is moved into weird positions. In front of him, the TV is playing old Looney Toons episodes.

"Up!" Bryce punches Monty and Justin in the leg before getting up.

"Ouch!" Justin winces and opens his eyes.

"Damn!" Monty opens his eyes and sits up on the couch, accidentally kicking Zach in the head.

"Dude!" Zach moves up and pushes Monty's feet away from him. "Your feet are nasty." They all start laughing.

"Get up. The parents will be back tonight and this place needs to look 'better than when they left'." Zach and Justin get to their feet, but Monty just starts laughing while he looks at his phone.

"What?" Zach looks over to Monty's phone. "Shit."

"What?" Justin moves over to look. "Damn." He chuckles a little.

"What?" Bryce asks as he walks back into the room with trash bags.

"That kid that was here last night… Clay. He apparently got hit by a car down the street. Marcus said he was drunk and riding his bike." Monty starts texting someone.

"What a doofus." Justin grabs a trash bag from Bryce. "You okay dude?" Bryce is just staring straight into nothing.

"Bryce…" Zach walks in front of Bryce, snapping him out of it.

"Oh. Yeah. Just waiting for you dumbasses to get up and moving."

"Damn dude." Monty gets off the couch.

"So… is he in the hospital?" Bryce whispers.

"Who?" Monty picks up some cups.

"That kid… Clay."

"Oh. Yeah." They all continue to clean and Bryce just stands still thinking.

CLAY - This Morning

"Owww." Clay opens his eyes to bright white lights and a very clean and shiny hospital room.

"Clay!" He hears his mom shout before she appears on top of him and begins hugging him.

"Mom…" Clay moans, his mom backing off.

"Sorry." Clay sits up. "How do you feel?"

"I've got a bit of a headache." He rubs his neck. "And my neck is sore. And why does my leg hurt so much?" Clay looks down to see a cast on his left leg.

"Sorry hun."

"Dam...ng…" Clay smiles, trying to hide what he almost said.

"Nice catch." They both laugh. "The doctors say you'll need that cast for a month. We're taking you home in two days. I already called the school and you can go back next week. I'm picking up your homework after work each day, so you still have stuff to do."

"Great."

"Your dad is at work and I really need to head to work to, but call me if you need anything." Clay just smiles. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Love you."

"Love you too." His mom leaves and he reaches for his phone.

AFTERNOON

"Clay?" Clay turns from the TV and to his room's door to see Bryce standing in the doorway.

"Go away."

"Clay…"

"Go. Away. Now." Clay turns back to the TV and Bryce turns away.

"No." Bryce turns back around and walks right into the room, closing the door."

"Get out of here!" Clay shouts.

"Stop it. I made a mistake. I know that. But it was just that, a mistake. I wasn't trying to hurt you. Trust me, I want nothing more than to not hurt you. I hurt everyone, but I want that to stop. You're the first person I care to try and stop hurting. So I'm not leaving. I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep trying as hard as I can to get you to trust me."

"What about Monty? You two a thing?"

"God no!" Bryce begins to laugh. "Monty and I have 'done' stuff together since third grade. It only happens three or four times a year, and only when one of us hasn't had any for a long time. Monty is just going through a dry spell. And he was wasted."

"Oh…" Clay sits there thinking.

"I want you to believe every word I say and want you to want me around. So please, ask me anything, anything at all."

"Really?" Clay is intrigued.

"I will sit here all day and night and answer every question you can possibly think of for as long as it takes for you to trust me."

"Fine."

"Fire away."

"Fine… my first question is…"


	5. The Questions

"When did you lose your virginity?"

"First blowjob when I was 8. First time actual sex was 12." Bryce is trying not to smirk while he says that.

"Wow… with who?"

"Blowjob was from Monty. Sex was with Amber Henderson."

"Amber Henderson? That girl who was sent to boarding school a couple years ago?"

"That's the one." They both laugh.

"What do you masturbate to?"

"Either gay porn or pictures of certain people."

"Like who?"

"Honestly, Tony Padilla. His hair is amazing!" It is silent for a second before they both begin laughing. "And more recently I've been looking at pictures of… you…"

"Oh…"

"You're blushing a little." Clay is holding back a smile.

"Well, next question. Have you ever been in love?"

"No."

"Have you ever really liked someone before?"

"Yes."

"Not including me?"

"Yes."

"Who was she?"

"He. And his name was Michael."

"Tell me about him."

"We were very close friends throughout elementary and middle school. It was always Justin, Michael and I. We were always hanging out together. We did everything together. But Michael and I were closer in ways Justin and I weren't. We talked, a lot. And we talked about some very deep things. We told each other secrets we had never shared with anyone. We never had any secrets… that is besides my big crush on him. I thought the world of him. I knew I trusted him more than anyone else. I knew I could spend the rest of my life talking to him." Bryce gets silent.

"Then what happened? Where is he now?"

"I believe he lives in Virginia now."

"Virginia?"

"When we got to middle school I was ready to finally lose my virginity. I couldn't wait anymore. But I didn't want it to happen with Monty. I wanted it to be meaningful. So one night, Michael was staying over at my house."

"Oh…"

"Yeah…" Bryce runs his hands through his hair. "We were sitting in my bed watching a movie when I leaned over and kissed him. I thought he would respond differently than he did. He pushed me back, jumped out of the bed and immediately left. I tried texting and calling him, but he had already blocked my number. By monday when I arrived at school, Justin told me that Michael and his family had moved to Texas."

"What? How'd that happen?"

"His dad had apparently gotten a job offer weeks before, but Michael had begged his parents to not move, so they pushed it back. And I guess… I guess that night Michael went home and said he was ready to move. 'Cause they did. When I went to his house after school that day it was cleaned out."

"Wow…" Clay doesn't know what to say. "I'm sorry." It's the only thing he could think of.

"It's fine. I moved on. I'm better for it."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Pretend like it doesn't matter? Like things don't hurt you?"

"I don't…"

"Remember, you told me you would tell me the complete truth."

"Fine. It hurt. It hurt a lot. I really liked Michael and I thought he did to. When he left like that I told myself I would never feel that way again. So I had sex with Amber Henderson. It was meaningless and actually quite boring. Is that what you wanted to hear? Did you really want to hear about my dysfunctional life?"

"Yes. Yes I did." Clay reaches over and grabs Bryce's hand. "How about we continue this another time?"

"It's fine. If you don't want to talk to me again just tell me straight up." Bryce stands up, moving his hand away.

"No. I mean that maybe we should meet up once I'm out of the hospital, and talk some more. Maybe someplace more private."

"Oh…" Bryce feels embarrassed.

"Yeah Bryce Walker, you're not going to get rid of me that easily." They both laugh. "Now head out, visiting hour ends soon."

"Fine." Bryce grabs a napkin off the table and pulls a pen from his pocket, then writes his number down. "But text me if you get bored."

"Maybe."


	6. The Visit

It's been a week since Bryce and Clay last spoke. Bryce constantly looked at his phone, impatiently waiting for a text. But there never was one.

As Monday morning hits, Bryce has decided it's time to cut the loss and move on. He'll get back to normal and forget everything Clay Jensen. He walks into school with a confident demeanor and multiple friends surrounding him, laughing, and smiling like everything is perfect. That is until his eyes catch Clay standing at his locker, with cast and crutches.

"Hey. Gotta handle some project stuff. See ya in class." He says to his friends.

"Boo! Nerd!" Monty shouts as they continue walking and Bryce stops at Clay.

"Hey." Bryce feels his confidence shatter, nervous to say anything.

"Hey. Sorry I didn't text."

"Oh! No. It's fine. I didn't even realize."

"Oh ok. I was just going to say that my parents took my phone from me 'cause they wanted me to focus on 'healing and not on the internet', as they said. But I guess you don't care." Clay closes his locker and starts turning the other direction.

"Hey." Clay turns back. "I'm sorry." It physically hurts Bryce to say that. "I was being stupid." That hurt even more. "I just thought you didn't want to talk to me."

"I still haven't decided yet."

"Oh… okay… okay."

"Maybe… just maybe you can drive me home after school today. We do still need to work on our project."

"Yeah. Yeah." Bryce is getting excited, but quickly calms down and tries to act cool. "I guess that's fine."

"You're weird," Clay says before turning the other direction. "I'll meet you out front after school. Don't make me wait." Clay walks away with adrenaline rushing through his veins, he feels so confident and cool.

Bryce quickly snaps out of his daze and heads to class.

**AFTER SCHOOL**

The second Clay steps out of the school doors he sees Bryce in his car waiting. He tries hard not to smile too much, doesn't want to let Bryce know how happy he is to see him. He gets in the car without either of them saying a word. They drive off. They continue in silence for a while.

"Wanna stop and get some food? Something to drink?" Bryce breaks the silence.

"No. We should just finish the project."

"Okay. Sounds like a plan." Bryce has never felt this awkward and uncomfortable, and has no idea why.

They arrive at Clay's house. Bryce grabs his and Clay's backpack.

"You don't need to carry my bag." Clay remarks as he gets out of the car.

"I know." They walk into the house.

"Is that you Clay?" Clay's mom yells from the other room.

"Yeah!" She walks in.

"Oh… hi!"

"Hey." Bryce is weirdly nervous. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Jensen. I'm Bryce"

"Nice to meet you as well Bryce."

"We have a project we need to work on." Clay jumps in. "And it's going to take a while… so we should get started." Clay heads to the stairs.

"Oh. Yeah. Let me know if you guys need anything."

"Thank you," Bryce says as he follows Clay up the stairs.

"That was weird," Clay comments as they both enter his room and close the door. "What's wrong with you?" Clay laughs.

"Honestly… I have no idea." They both laugh together. "I swear. Ever since I saw you this morning I've felt so weird."

"Some people call that being nervous."

"I don't get nervous about anything." Bryce takes a seat on Clay's bed.

"Really?" Clay sits down next to Bryce on the bed, very close.

"I'm… I'm…" Bryce stammers.

"You're what?" Clay puts his hand on Bryce's leg.

"That's not funny." Bryce licks his lips.

"It is." Clay laughs and stands up, moving over to his desk chair.

"Let's get to work." Bryce chimes in, opening his backpack.

For the next two hours Bryce and Clay work on their project. They work on it in sync, with only a few times stopping to make intense eye contact.

"You're smarter than you let on, you know," Clay says randomly.

"Um… thanks…"

"I mean it in a good way. You always just act like a privileged jock who doesn't need to be smart. But you are."

"I feel like I was just complimented and insulted at the same time."

"You are smart." They both laugh.

"You're not as awkward and weird as you let on either."

"Really?" Clay is intrigued.

"Yeah. You're actually pretty confident once you open up. And you're kinda cool."

"That's high praise coming from _the _Bryce Walker."

"_The _Bryce Walker?"

"You know what I mean. You're the _it_ kid at school. You basically run it."

"I guess… but it's not exactly what people think it is."

"How do you mean?" Clay drops his pencil, getting intrigued.

"Everyone's always looking at me. They always expect me to be one way. They expect me to do certain things and say certain things. They expect me to be the exact same every day. And some days… some days I want to be different. I want to be someone other than _the _Bryce Walker."

"Wow. That's deep." They both laugh a little. "But seriously. You can be whoever you want. You shouldn't care what everyone at school thinks."

"It's not just the kids at school. It's my parents."

"Screw them."

"Jensen!" Bryce is shocked by Clay.

"I just mean that…" Clay stops, thinking of what to say. "Think about it this way… When you turn 18 you are officially an adult and can do whatever you want. You're on your own for the rest of your life. They're only in charge of you for 18 years of your entire life. And you've got a long life to live. Why care about what they think about you? Do you think they care what you think about them?"

"Wow. Very wise Clay Jensen."

"I try." They laugh and then right then Bryce moves over and kisses Clay.

They continue kissing for a minute, their lips connecting like puzzle pieces, meant to be connected. Everything in this moment is perfect. Both of them are happy. Both of them are comfortable. Both of them want this to last forever. Then Clay's bedroom door opens and the two separate as quickly as they possibly can.

"How's the project going?" Clay's mom appears.

"Great!" Clay smiles a ridiculously large smile.

"Great." His mom looks a little confused. "Did you want to stay for dinner Bryce? I'm making lasagna."

"That would be great. Thank you."

"Great. Good luck you guys." She closes the door, leaving.

"Did she see anything?" Clay whispers after hearing his mom walk down the stairs.

"I don't know."

"Oh my god!" Clay slams his head down to the desk.

"What happened to not caring what your parents think of you?" Clay looks up at Bryce and they both begin to laugh.

"Don't make me slap you." Clay sits up.

"Please do," Bryce smirks and they both begin to laugh.


	7. The Chase

It's the next day.

Bryce is feeling good about life. He had a real family-style dinner last night with the guy he likes. He laughed, he smiles, and he genuinely had a great time. And then he had to go home. His parents weren't home and didn't text or even care that he wasn't home until almost midnight on a school night. But part of him didn't care anymore. He knew that when he went to school the next day that he would get to see Clay again. And that after school they would go back to his place and he would have dinner with his family once again. That made him happy.

Clay, while happy, is a bit scared as well. He's never been with a guy before, especially not someone so popular and charming. It also didn't help that he is scared to hell that they will be caught. The memory of his mom opening his door and almost catching them kissing makes Clay's heart race. He knows that it's ridiculous to be scared of. He knows his parents would be completely accepting of him. But something in him is terrified about the possibility of his parents or anyone else learning about him.

"Hey." Clay is snapped out of his daze when he hears Bryce.

"Oh. Hey." Bryce sits down at the computer next to him.

"What you doing in the library during lunch?"

"Nothing." Clay is nervous and stares straight at his computer, trying hard to look like he's not talking to Bryce.

"There's a barn behind the school that no one knows about. Wanna join me there?"

"I can't. I've got homework to work on." Clay doesn't look away from the computer.

"What's up? Did I do something wrong?" Bryce puts his hand on Clay's leg.

"Stop." Clay whispers as he pushes Bryce's hand away.

"Oh…" Bryce feels hurt and stands up.

"Wait." Clay immediately feels bad about that and stands up. "Where's this shed?"

Clay arrives at the shed a couple of minutes after Bryce.

"Wow! What is this place?" Clay is surprised at the couches, tables, and TV in this hidden shed.

"I found it last year. I was going to bring my friends here, but I thought it would be better for the two of us."

"I'm cool with that." Clay goes to sit next to Bryce.

"Good." They lean forward and begin kissing.

Clay runs his hands into Bryce's hair. Bryce slides a hand onto Clay's leg. He squeezes the leg. They continue kissing, their tongues slipping into each other. As this continues Clay can feel himself loosen up. His troubles quickly go away. He moves his hands down Bryce's muscular body. He moves down further until his one hand starts sliding down the back of Bryce's jeans. He slips his fingers onto Bryce's crack.

"Oh…" Bryce moans as Clay slowly slides two of his fingers into his hole. "Wow." Clay starts moving down and kissing Bryce's neck.

Clay slips another finger in and starts going deeper. Bryce bites his lower lip and looks up to the ceiling. Clay starts sucking on Bryce's neck like it's the tastiest lollipop.

"Oh god!" Bryce loses it as Clay shoves another finger in and pushes as deep as he possibly can. "Oh my fuckin' god!" Bryce is in major pain but is loving every second of it.

"Shh." Clay whispers to him as he begins his to move his fingers in and of Bryce.

"Fuck!" Bryce begins to shout, but then Clay shoves his hand on top of his mouth, silencing him.

Clay begins to get more aggressive, shoving his fingers in with force and rotating his fingers around.

This continues for a while, almost 20 minutes, until both Clay and Bryce and tired and sweating hard. Clay slides his finger out of Bryce and collapses against the couch.

"Damn!" Bryce shouts as Clay removes his hand off his mouth.

"Yeah…" Clay is a little freaked as he looks at his fingers covered in a little bit of blood and tons of crap.

"Oh…" Bryce begins to laugh.

"Just grab something to clean it off with!" Bryce continues laughing as he stands up.

"Ooooh." Bryce is a bit sore as he gets up. "Here." He grabs a towel from his gym bag and throws it to Clay.

"Thanks." He chuckles.

"So… do you wanna tell me what happened to you in the library earlier?" Bryce sits on the couch across from Clay.

"Wow… no segway into that?"

"No."

"Ok… Ok… Well…" Clay goes silent.

"It's because of your mom walking in, isn't it?"

"Whoa! How'd you know?" Clay leans forward.

"Because that freaked me out. I couldn't stop thinking about it."

"Past tense?"

"Yeah. I _was_ freaking out until I saw you in the library. Just then I realized I shouldn't be afraid. That I shouldn't worry about it until it happens."

"So… just have fun until this all falls apart?"

"No, until we're ready. We stay hidden. We stay together. We continue without fearing what may happen. We focus on doing what makes us happy until we figure out our next step"

"Okay." Clay stands up, Bryce right behind him. "I think I can manage that."

Right then both Clay and Bryce's phone's ding. They both grab their phones and look at them. In that instant, both of their hearts stop. Their bodies freeze as they both watch a video of them kissing, and Clay's fingers up Bryce's ass. The video seems to have been taken from one of the shed's dirty windows. The number it comes from looks to be fake.

"So… what's our next step?" Clay looks to Bryce.


	8. The Text

"What do we do?" Clay starts to panic. "Bryce?" He looks to bryce, who is starring at the video on repeat. "Bryce!" Bryce doesn't respond or move an inch. "Shit!" Clay runs out of the shed and runs around before running back in. "No one's out there." He plops down on one of the couches.

Clay sits there, thinking and waiting for Bryce to snap out of it. This goes on for a while.

"We're missing a lot of class. We're going to get detention." Clay says, hoping to snap Bryce out of it.

A couple more minutes pass.

"So…" Clay is now completely calm and ready to go, but Bryce is still frozen.

A couple more minutes pass.

"Shit!" Bryce shouts and drops his phone.

Both of their phones ding. A text message.

_UNKNOWN: Send me a pic of u 2 kissing. Or the video goes to the whole school._

"What the fuck?" Bryce shouts.

"This creep is… well, creepy."

"We can't do what this creep wants... right?" Bryce turns to Clay.

"No… we can't."

"Yeah. We're both able to come out and deal with this."

"Yeah. Yeah. We're adults. We're mature."

"But…"

"Yeah?" Clay smiles and turns to Bryce.

"But maybe we just send that pic. Maybe it buys us a little more time to think this over?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And what's the harm in a pic of us kissing in the grand scheme of things? He has worse."

"That's true. Very true."

"So, shall we?" Clay opens his camera and they lean in together.

"Tongue or no tongue?" They both laugh.

They lean forward and kiss, Clay taking the picture.

"I'll send it." Clay presses send and Bryce's phone dings.

"Now what? We wait?"

"No. We go back to class. We continue like normal. But we be a bit more discreet. Only behind closed doors. Not at school. Only when we are 100% positive we are alone." Clay begins panting.

"Okay." Bryce puts his hands on Clay's face. "It's going to be okay." He kisses him. "I'll pick you up after school behind the baseball field."

"Sounds amazing." Clay sighs and grabs his backpack. "This is going to be a long day isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Clay leaves the shed.

**AFTER SCHOOL**

"Hey," Clay says as he enters Bryce's car in the shaded park area behind the baseball field.

"Hey." They go to kiss each other but then stop. "Oops." They both smile and sit back in their seats.

"Any texts?"

"No."

"Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?"

"Because eventually, it will. Eventually, this person will share that video or we will be forced to come out to everyone."

"Let's go to my place. My parents are both gone for the week on business. We can work on the project there, and be completely alone."

"I don't know if that's the best idea."

"Why?"

"I was thinking today, after everything, that maybe it would be best to stay away from each other a bit. Give each other some time to think about what our next step is."

"But shouldn't we talk about it together. This isn't something I want to do alone."

"But it's something I need to do alone. I need this. And I know it may be hard for you. But please, if you care about me at all… let me leave this car without saying another word." Bryce sits there, about to say something, but stops himself. "I'll text you." Clay leaves the car, leaving Bryce silently sitting in his car.


	9. The Next Text

For the past three days, Bryce has been texting Clay a lot. Like A LOT! Over 20 texts a day. Clay didn't respond to a single one of them. He turned his notifications off and just tried as hard as he could to ignore it. The past three days were really rough for both of them. Neither could pay attention at school. Neither hung out with friends. Neither of them really did anything. They both just really thought about everything.

Then they both received a text around noon while at school.

_UNKNOWN: Go straight to Bryce's house after school. Drive together._

At first, Clay was going to text Bryce to meet up at school to talk about it, but he couldn't find the nerve to do it. So after school, he went outside and straight to Bryce's car to wait for him.

"Hey!" Bryce can't stop smiling as he walks up to his car to see Clay.

"Hey." Clay sighs, walking into the car and trying hard not to show how excited he actually is to see Bryce.

"So…" Bryce says as they drive away from the school.

"Yeah…" The car ride is more awkward than either of them thought it would be. "How'd you do on that science test?"

"Pretty good. You?"

"Better than I thought."

"Good." This type of conversation continues the entire drive to Bryce's house.

"My parents are still gone so we have the house to ourselves," Bryce says as they walk up to the front door.

"Good." Clay is finding it hard to keep to one-word sentences.

"Why do you think they want us alone together?"

"Another video?" Clay finally chimes in.

"Yeah… that would suck…" Bryce would love that.

"Yeah…" Though he would never admit it… Clay would kind of love it as well.

"What do you want to do while we wait?"

"Can I get a drink?"

"Sure." Bryce walks off to the kitchen.

_UNKNOWN: Go to Bryce's bedroom_

Clay sees the text and decides to head up without Bryce. He walks into his room and takes a seat on the bed.

"Here you are." Bryce walks in with a soda and water bottle. "Why'd you come up here?"

"Oh… um…" Clay realizes the text was only to him.

_UNKNOWN: Get Bryce to leave the room for a few minutes_

Clay looks down at his phone.

"Is it them?" Bryce asks.

"No. My mom." Clay thinks for a second while he pretends to text back. "I'm actually a bit hungry… any snacks?" Bryce smiles.

"Of course. I'll be right back." Bryce leaves.

_UNKNOWN: There's a notebook in his closet underneath a small box. Grab it and put it in your bag. Don't read it!_

Clay does exactly what the text says to do. He finds a small leather notebook and puts it in his bag before sitting back down. He looks around a sees a picture of a young Bryce sitting on a swing. He stares at it. He thinks about how happy and innocent Bryce looks. He was the cutest little kid. But he was alone. He looks around more and all of his photos are of him alone, besides one or two of him with his friends. But none with his parents.

"Hey. Pretzels, chips, or gummies?" Bryce walks in with a ton of snacks in his arms.

"All of the above." Clay can feel himself lightning up and letting things go a bit but reminds himself to keep a distance.

Bryce drops the snacks on his bed and takes a seat at his desk across from Clay. they just sit there for a minute, waiting for the other person to say something.

Both of their phones ding.

_UNKNOWN: Bryce, take out the phone in your backpack_

"What phone?" Bryce says as he grabs his backpack and starts looking through the pockets.

"Is that your phone?" Clay asks as Bryce takes out an old iPhone from his bag.

"No." Just as Bryce is about to hand it to Clay it turns on and vibrates, Bryce dropping it to the floor. "Shit." Clay laughs and Bryce joins in a little.

"You good?"

"Haha. It just startled me." They both go down to reach the phone, their hands touching.

The phone suddenly reads three big and bold words… TRUTH OR DARE


	10. The Game

**CLAY'S TURN**

The phone chimes.

**TRUTH OR DARE?**

"What should I choose?" Clay is nervous, they both move to the floor on each side of the phone.

"Your choice."

**10...9...8…**

The phone beeps as it counts down.

"Um…" Clay presses on **TRUTH**.

**WHY DID YOU WANT TO TAKE A "BREAK" FROM BRYCE?**

Bryce looks up at Clay, who's starring down blankly at the phone.

"Clay."

"I know."

**10...9...8…**

"You're running out of time."

"I know!"

**7...6...5...4…**

**I'LL KNOW IF YOU LIE**

The phone starts beeping louder.

"I needed a break because I think I'm falling in love with Bryce and I believe if the secret gets out it will all end and he will leave me. I thought if we just stayed away from each other this whole thing would be over on my terms." Clay takes a deep breath in and out.

"Clay." They look at each other.

"Yeah." Clay feels embarrassed and ready to run out of the room.

**BRYCE'S TURN**

The phone chimes, interrupting Bryce.

**DARE**

"What?" Bryce and Clay both say at once.

"That's not fair!" Clay looks around as if the person is in the room.

"It's because you choose Truth. The second person gets the leftover." Bryce is content and just ready to get this done with.

"It's still not fair."

"I know. But I'm a big boy, I can handle this."

**GRAB SOMETHING WITHIN ARM'S LENGTH AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS FOR AT LEAST 15 SECONDS. YOU HAVE 2 MINUTES TO COMPLETE.**

"Wow." Clay chimes in, trying not to smile.

Bryce looks around for a second before reaching under his bed and grabbing an empty beer bottle. Clay chuckles a little.

"Haha." Bryce stands up and pulls his pants down.

He doesn't waste any time as he takes a deep breath in and starts sliding the tip of the bottle up his ass.

"Fuck!" Bryce shouts as his asshole burns in pain at the dry friction of the bottle.

He pushes it in deep, biting his lip and squeezing the side of his lip. He keeps trying to breathe deep and long breathes as he pushes it in until it won't go any farther. He closes his eyes and starts counting. But then he feels a hand touch his. He opens his eyes to see Clay close up. He squeezes his hand.

"Time," Clay says and Bryce slowly pulls it out.

"You good?"

"Yeah." Bryce throws the bottle in the trash and pulls his pants up slowly. "Just a little pain." They both go back to their spots.

**FAILED!**

The phone loudly beeps over and over for a minute.

"What?" Bryce is pissed.

**NO HELPING EACH OTHER. ONE STRIKE. TWO MORE AND SOMEONE GETS A PUNISHMENT.**

"No one said that!" Clay shouts, angry as well.

**CLAY'S TURN**

Phone chimes again.

**TRUTH OR DARE?**

"Choose truth." Bryce says.

"No! I'm not letting you take another dare."

"I can handle another dare. I don't want you to deal with that."

"I can handle more than you think."

"I know, but…"

"We do this 50/50 or not at all." Clay presses **DARE**.

**TAKE 4 DOSES ON LAXATIVE. YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES TO DO SO.**

"Laxatives?" Clay looks up to Bryce.

"My mom may have some in her bathroom." They both stand up, Clay grabbing the phone, before leaving the room.

"This isn't too bad, right?" Clay asks. "I'll only be on the toilet all night, then it's over."

"Yeah." Bryce starts looking through drawers. "Here!" Bryce finds a box and starts grabbing some pills. "Here… four doses." He hands the pills over and a glass of water.

"Thanks. Wish me luck." He takes the pills down.

The phone chimes.

**BRYCE'S TURN**

The take a seat on the floor in the bathroom, knowing they will need it soon.

**TRUTH**

**TELL CLAY YOUR DEEPEST DARKEST SECRET**

"Well…" Clay runs his hands through his hair.

"It's okay." Clay puts his hand on Bryce's leg.

**10...9...8…**

"When I was five I was staying with my uncle for a sleepover on his boat. He told me about a game. A game where I had to get naked. He…"

"Bryce…" Clay is worried.

**5...4…**

"He made me suck on his penis and let him out it… in me." The timer stops.

"Oh Bryce…" Clay starts to move forward.

"No." Bryce stops him and sits back. "Let's just move on."

**CLAY'S TURN**

The phone dings again.

**TRUTH OR DARE?**

"I guess it's Truth this time." Clay looks to Bryce, who's just looking down at the floor.

He presses the **TRUTH** button.

**TELL BRYCE ONE THING YOU'VE NEVER TOLD ANYONE BEFORE**

"Okay…" Clay thinks for a second.

**10...9...8…**

"I've always had the fantasy of attacking and raping a man."

**7...6...5…**

"I guess it's because I want to feel like I've got some power."

**4...3...2…**

"Um…"

**1…**

The phone starts to beep loudly.

**FAILED!**

"What? But I've never told anyone that before!" Clay is freaking out.

"I guess it's not what they wanted to hear." Bryce finally looks up to Clay.

**NEXT FAILURE MEANS A PUNISHMENT**

**BRYCE'S TURN**

"Time for another dare." Bryce seems quiet and not exactly there.

**DARE**

"It's okay. We can get through this." Clay goes to grab Bryce's hand, but he pulls it back.

**FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS, WHEN CLAY HAS TO POOP… YOU'LL BE HIS TOILET AND TOILET PAPER**

"Fuck!" Bryce shouts.

"Oh shit!" Clay looks up to Bryce and they both begin to laugh.

"This is crazy." They can't stop laughing.

"This is going to be a long night… I am full of shit." That makes Bryce laugh even harder.

"This is truly insane! Nuts! Bananas!"  
"Bananas actually make me poop." They both laugh.

The phone begins to chime again. They both look down at it.

**THE GAME IS OVER… IF YOU PASS THE LAST DARE…**

"Well… I guess we wait…" They sit back.

**30 MINUTES PASS**

"It's coming!" Clay breaks the silence and jumps to his feet.

"Okay. Okay. Okay." Bryce jumps up. "To the shower!" Bryce runs over and they walk into the massive shower. "That way it will be easier to clean."

"No more talking. It's coming." Clay takes his pants off.

Bryce goes to his knees and opens his mouth up wide. Clay leans over and lets Bryce take his weight as he places his hole right on top of Bryce's mouth.

"Fuck!" Clay shouts as he opens the floodgates and begins to shoot out wet and thick liquidy poop.

Bryce begins to moan, really wanting to back away, but he doesn't. He stays still and tries to swallow as much as he can as quickly as he can. Clay farts as more poop flies out at full force. Bryce is having trouble breathing and taking it all in, but he keeps reminding himself that if he fails Clay may get a punishment. He doesn't want that for Clay. He finds himself wanting to vomit. The smell. The Taste. Everything about it makes Bryce's body twinge and shake.

"Oh…" Clay moans as he feels himself finish. "I'm so sorry." Clay stands up and turns to Bryce.

Bryce turns to the floors and begins throwing up. He can't keep any of it in. It all just keeps coming out.

"I'm so sorry." Clay pats Bryce on the back.

"You still have to…" Bryce wipes his mouth with his arm. "Clean your ass."

"Oh… yeah…" Clay feels so bad as he turns around and grabs Bryce by the hair.

He quickly begins to wipe his ass with Bryce's hair. He wipes until he's completely clean.

"I'm so so sorry." Clay goes to his knees and next to Bryce. "I'm so sorry." He can't stop saying it.

"It's okay." Bryce looks up at Clay, his face covered in brown poop.

Bryce then runs his hands through his hair, forgetting what just happened.

"Eww." Bryce stops and sits down, leaning against the wall.

"Let me turn the water on." Clay turns around.

"No. There's no point in cleaning up. You'll need to poop again every 30 minutes or so for the rest of the night. Just get me a towel."

"Okay."

"And some water bottles. You should stay hydrated." Clay smiles and looks back at Bryce.

"You really do care about me, don't you?"

"Of course. I would do anything for you." Clay smiles bigger. "For that smile." Bryce smiles as Clay turns and leaves the room. "I love you," Bryce whispers to himself, making sure Clay can't hear him.

"I love you too." Clay whispers to himself.


	11. The Shower

"How are you doing?" Clay hands Bryce his 6th bottle of water.

"I could be better." He coughs before chugging the entire bottle of water. "The smell isn't helping though."

"Yeah. Let me go and find some candles." Clay stands up.

"No." Bryce grabs Clay's hand. "Stay."

"Sure." Clay sits back down and rips off another paper towel.

He begins wiping some poop off Bryce's forehead.

"Thanks." Bryce puts a hand on Clay's leg.

"I think this may be over now."

"It's only been about 10 hours."

"I know. But I finally feel normal."

"Are you sure?"

"I think so, but I can stay here for the rest of the day until we're 100% sure."

"Only if you want to."

"I want to." Clay decides in this moment to stop thinking but to follow his heart, his gut, his body… and begins kissing Bryce.

As they kiss, Clay completely forgets about the poop all over Bryce's head and clothes. He slides up closer and onto Bryce's lap. He grips onto Bryce's thighs, squeezing.

"Are you sure?" Bryce manages to say as Clay stops to take a breath.

"I've never been more sure." Clay goes back down to kissing him, slipping his tongue into Bryce's mouth and feeling all around.

Clay slides his hands up and under Bryce's shirt, sliding his fingers around his hard abs. He moves back and slides his dirty shirt off, throwing it away. He then throws his own shirt off. He reaches down and unzips Bryce's pants, sliding them off as quickly as he possibly can. After he throws his own pants out of the shower, Clay reaches over and turns the shower on. At first, the water is cold and shocks the two of them, waking them up. Clay stands up and then helps Brye to his feet. He immediately pushes into the wall, his head directly under the showerhead.

"I'm sorry about everything I said."

"I'm sorry too."

Clay moves forward, his head under the water, and kisses Bryce again. He steps back and looks at Bryce as the water soaks him, his hair falling in front of his face. He steps forward and runs his fingers through Bryce's hair, pushing it out of his face and sliding his fingers across his cheek. Bryce then grabs both of Clay's wrists and flip him over, pushing his arms up and against the wall.

"This may sound ridiculous… but I think this may be my favorite day of all time." They both chuckle at that.

"Well then we have to make sure tomorrow is better or that is just sad."

"Oh shut up." Bryce moves forward with his erect penis and flips Clay around, shoving his face into the cold tile wall.

Bryce spits into his hand and starts covering his penis. He massages it for a minute before sliding it into Clay.

"Ohh…" Clay moans as Bryce's warm body connects with his.

"Fuck." Bryce starts sliding in and out of Clay, his entire body heating up.

He leans forward, beginning to kiss the back of Clay's neck. He sucks on his neck like it's a piece of candy. He around to the side of Clay's neck, sucking harder. He bites down just a little, pulling his skin taught.

"Oh god…" Clay moans as the small bit of pain in his neck sends a wave of pleasure through his entire body.

Byrce stops and moves up, grabbing Clay's earlobe with his teeth. He pulls tight on it.

"Oh my god…" Clay moans again, the pleasure almost too much for him.

Clay grabs his own penis and begins jerking off as fast as he can without punching the wall. Bryce begins going faster, moving both his hands onto Clay's waist and holding him in place. He starts pushing harder and harder into Clay. Water begins splashing everywhere as Bryce moves more.

**5 MINUTES LATER…**

"I'm close," Bryce says, panting.

"I'm almost there too." Clay chimes in.

"I've maybe got ten seconds left." Bryce moans and grips onto Clay's waist so tight that it starts to hurt him. "Oh god!" Bryce shouts as he explodes into Clay's ass. "Oh my lord!" He doesn't know why but this feels unlike any other time he's had sex.

It feels magical. It feels like he's gone to the next level in sex. His entire body feels like a weight has been lifted off of it. For those few seconds, his entire being feels nothing but bliss. As he finishes he slides out of Clay and steps back, taking a very deep breath in. He stands there replaying that moment in his head over and over.

Clay turns around, jerking his penis off faster. He bites his lower lip and looks straight at Bryce, imagining everything he wants to do to him. He looks at Bryce and thinks about just how much he feels for him. Each time he moves his hand back and forth on his penis he thinks of another reason he likes Bryce. It just keeps going, neverending.

"I'm… oh… I'm… about to…" Clay begins to moans and Bryce quickly moves down to his knees.

Before Bryce can take Clay's penis into his mouth, Clay explodes, cum shooting all over Bryce's face.

"Oh…" Clay moans, a shockwave running up and down his body.

As Clay finishes, Bryce stands up, wiping cum off his face and licking it off his fingers.

"I'm kinda hungry now… for something sweet." They both laugh.

"I'm sure we can find something to fill your appetite." Clay turns the shower off and grabs a towel, wiping Bryce's face.

"Last one to the kitchen is a rotten egg," Bryce shouts and runs out of the shower before stopping to look back at Clay.

"Are you kidding me?" They just look at each other. "You think you can win?" Clay runs out of the shower, grabbing the other towel and running past Bryce.

They both laugh as they begin running down to the kitchen. Clay makes it there first, Bryce right behind him.

"What's the winner get?" Clay says as he breathes heavily.

"This." Bryce moves in and gives Clay the most perfect and gentle kiss on the lips.


	12. The Sting

"I should get going. My parent's in no way will believe Tony's parents would allow me to stay two nights in a row." Clay runs his fingers down Bryce's stomach.

"No… don't…" Bryce grabs Clay's hand. "My parents are gone for another two days."

"We have school tomorrow. We both have homework we need to do." Clay sits up in the bed.

"Boo homework." Bryce pulls Clay back down and gets on top of him.

"While I would love to go another round, I'm pretty sure the tank is empty. And I'm still sore from that thing you did last night." They both laugh.

"Fiiinnneee." Bryce gets off him and stands up off the bed.

Clay gets off the bed and starts putting his clothes on. As he does so, Bryce walks into his closet. For the first time since he did it, Clay remembers taking that leather notebook from Bryce's closet. His heart starts racing. Is he looking for it now?

"Here." Bryce walks out with a football jersey. "I want you to have this. It's my old jersey so I don't need it, but I want you to have it."

"Awwww." Clay's eyes start watering, mostly because of the sweet sentiment, but some coming from the notebook. "It smells just like you." Clay can't help but sniff it as Bryce hands it to him.

"Now you'll always have me with you." They move forward and kiss. "Want me to drive you?"

"No. I think I'd like to walk. Get some fresh air after being inside all weekend."

"Ok. Just text me when you get home safely."

"Will do." Clay wraps his arms around Bryce and kisses him once more before walking out.

As Clay walks out the front door of Bryce's house his phone chimes, making every bone in his body shake. He takes his phone out of his pocket and looks down.

_BRYCE: Miss u already! 3_

Clay relaxes, smiling.

_CLAY: Miss u 2 3_

Clay starts walking and his phone chimes.

_UNKNOWN: About time you left._

_CLAY: What do you want?'_

_UNKNOWN: I need you to bring me the notebook._

_CLAY: NO!_

_UNKNOWN: __LINK_

Clay clicks on the link and it's a video of Bryce revealing what happened to his uncle. Clay closes it immediately, his heart racing and mind freaking out. He knows if this would be released it would destroy Bryce.

_CLAY: Fine_

_UNKNOWN: Leave it under the yellow slide at the Crestmont Elementary School playground between 10pm and midnight tonight._

It's very specific and kind of creeps Clay out.

_CLAY: Ok_

Clay quickly goes from the happiest he's ever been to feeling worse than he did on those laxatives. His stomach is flipped around, his entire body in pain as he walks home. He starts thinking about how he can get out of this, but nothing comes to mind. But just as he gets home, it hits him. The only way for this to end is to find out who this _Unknown_ person is. This makes Clay forget about all the bad things, all the pain. This gives him a mission.

"Hey buddy." Clay's dad walks into the room as he enters the house. "How was last night."

"It was… really fun." Just the thought of yesterday makes Clay smile.

"Great! Your mom is in the kitchen if you want lunch."

"Thanks. But actually, dad… do you have a camera that I could use?"

"Oh yeah. Why do you need it?"

"Just a project for school."

"Ok. Cool. I'll grab it for you." He runs up the stairs.

"Hey mom." Clay walks into the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie." They hug. "How's Tony?"

"Oh, he's doing good. His parent's made lasagna for dinner." Clay doesn't know why he says that it just blurts out.

"Sounds good." She looks at him for a second. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Clay responds immediately. "Why?"

"You just… I don't know… you seem different." She just smiles then goes to the fridge.

"Okay… I've got some homework to work on so I'll be in my room." Clay goes to the stairs and his dad runs down with a box.

"I got this camera from your mom last year, but I haven't used it." He gets close to him. "Don't tell her." He steps back. "You can use it as long as you'd like." He hands it to Clay.

"Thanks dad." He runs up the stairs and to his room.

Clay goes straight to his computer and turns it on. He starts to do some research.

How to trace a phone number

Clay begins looking at article after article. He looks at video tutorials. He looks at forums. He goes through some crazy subreddits that go down some pretty crazy spirals that make Clay feel a bit crazy.

But in the end, nothing. Well, almost nothing. He did figure out that the phone has been sending its messages from within a 50 miles radius of the town. That's all he was able to figure out. So he knows it's coming from someone in town, which was pretty darn obvious.

How to set up a sting

This search goes down many many avenues. At first, there are videos showing how people caught there spouses cheating. Then there are some links to private eyes that cost way too much. Then a ton about the movie The Sting. Then a weird amount of videos of people trying to get stung by bees… it got weird.

How to figure out who is anonymously texting and blackmailing me

Everything about the show Pretty Little Liars pops up. Clay quickly learned that the only reason the girls on that show found out who was texting them was by either pure accident or when the mystery person messed up. So… not helpful at all. Except he learned exactly what not to do.

So Clay decides to take a break and do his homework. For the rest of the day, he just does his homework and tries to act like normal. He has dinner with his parents. He texts Bryce a lot. Then around 9 at night he leaves out of his window and onto his bike. He goes straight to the park with the camera he set up. He looks around and finds the perfect spot in a tree that sees the entire playground. Then he goes away. He goes a couple of blocks away and waits until about 10:30 when he goes to the park and places the notebook under the slide. He then "rides away" and walks back, hiding far enough away to not be seen but close enough to still be able to see anything going on at the playground.

"Now I wait." Clay gets comfortable on the ground.


	13. The Mistake

It's getting late. Very late. It's almost three in the morning and Clay is still sitting on the ground staring at the playground. No one has walked even near the park. There's not a single human being out right now, and Clay is beginning to feel like he's being messed with. But he doesn't budge. He stays there. He continues waiting.

Until he falls asleep.

As the sun begins to rise, Clay begins to open his eyes. At first, he feels his neck in pain, but then quickly jumps to his feet when he realizes what happened. He runs straight to the playground and to the slide. The notebook is gone. He then runs to the tree, the camera is gone.

"Fuck!" He shouts.

Then he looks at his phone and it's 7 am.

"Fuck!" He quickly runs to his bike and heads home.

After sneaking into his room and getting changed, he has breakfast and goes to school. Every bit of him is freaking out. He can't sit still. His heart is racing. He knows that whoever has been texting them knows that he was trying to catch them. He doesn't know what they're going to do about it. Will they release everything they've got? Will they give them a punishment?

All Clay does know is that he needs to talk to Bryce. He knows that Bryce will have just the right thing to say. That he will know what to do. But Bryce was running late to school so they couldn't talk before class. They don't have a class together until after lunch, so he texts Bryce.

_CLAY: Meet me at the shed at lunch_

Bryce doesn't respond. Everything in Clay is telling him that something is wrong. He knows something is up, and though he doesn't want to admit it, he knows exactly what it is.

When lunch begins Clay nearly runs to the shed. And when he opens the door he sees Bryce just sitting on the couch starring straight ahead.

"Hey... " Clay is nervous.

Bryce doesn't say anything but just hands Clay his phone. On his phone is a video sent from the _UNKNOWN _number that shows Clay going into Bryce's closet, taking the notebook, and putting it in his bag.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so so sorry!" Clay sits down next to Bryce, who still looks forward. "I was going to tell you today. That's why I wanted to meet you here." He tries to get Bryce to look at him. "I knew they'd release the video if I didn't do it."

"Did they tell you not to tell me?" Bryce finally looks over.

"Well… um…" Clay thinks about it for a second. "Well no actually. They only told me not to read it." He feels so bad right now.

"I…" Bryce looks away and puts his face in his hands.

"I was trying to figure out who's been texting us. I think that's why they sent you that. I used a camera and tried to stake out the spot they wanted me to drop off the notebook." He moves to the other couch in front of Bryce. "They must've known I was there. They waited until I fell asleep and took the notebook and my dad's camera."

"Your dad's camera?" Bryce looks up at Clay. "Your poor father!" She shouts, getting angry. "We should start a support group for people who have their stuff taken by you and given to random creep."

"I deserve that."

"Thanks for accepting it." Bryce sits back.

"You know me. You know how sorry I am. I will do anything to make sure that your notebook never gets out. I will do anything to make sure you can trust me again."

"The problem is… I still do trust you. I don't want to, but for some reason I do. I know you'll do anything to fix this. And I know it isn't your fault. You were just doing what you had to. But…" Bryce stands up. "I think I just need some time."

"I understand." Clay stands up as well.

The two chimes from their phones echo in the silent shed.

_UNKNOWN: Next time u try 2 find out who I am, everything will b released. But 4 now, u just get a punishment. Stay tuned._

"Great." Bryce says before grabbing his backpack and leaving the shed.

Clay just stands there, trying so hard to not hate himself too much. It isn't working. Clay's phone chimes.

_UNKNOWN: In your opinion, who is Bryce's hottest friend?_

Clay doesn't have to think hard about this. He is ashamed of it but knows exactly who it is.

_CLAY: Monty_

There is no response. Clay waits a while, but nothing.

"Shit."


	14. The Punishment

It's been two weeks since Clay made his mistake. He and Bryce are talking, but they haven't spent much time in person together, mostly texting. Bryce is starting to move on. But they also haven't heard anything from their mysterious texter. Which is looming over everything, every single day.

"I feel like we haven't just hung out in years."

"It's only been a week." Bryce sits down next to Clay on his bed.

"It felt like much longer." Clay puts his head on Bryce's shoulder. "I've missed this."

"Me too."

"I'm so sorry."

"I know. You don't need to keep saying that." Bryce kisses the top of Clay's head. "I'm still just worried about what this person will do after what you did."

"I'm more worried about the whole Monty of it all."

"Don't worry. Monty will do anything for me."

"I hope so."

Their phones chime.

"It's like they know we're talking about them." Bryce laughs, grabbing his phone.

"What if they are?" Clay quietly mentions as he grabs his phone.

_UNKNOWN: Punishment Time. Clay, you need to have sex with Monty. Bryce, you watch._

"Umm…" Clay is speechless.

"I should've realized." Bryce throws his phone to the ground.

"What?" Clay grabs Bryce's leg, but then Bryce stands up and walks to the other side of the room.

"This punishment is for me, and you." He starts pacing the room. "They want me to watch you have sex with Monty because they know it will hurt me. And they know that you've already hurt me so much that you'll hate that this is hurting me."

"Oh…" Clay stands up. "Oh!" He gets it now. "Oh Bryce…" Clay walks up to Bryce and tries to hug him, but he shrugs it off.

"Forget about it. Let's just get this over with." He grabs his phone off the floor and begins typing. "He'll be here in 20."

"What? How?" Clay is scared and impressed.

"I just texted him saying I wanted to have sex."

"Wow… is this the kind of thing you used to do with him all the time?"

"Don't judge." Bryce sits down and gives Clay a look.

"Sorry."

"When he gets here you should hide in the bathroom. I'll talk to him. It should be easy, he'll have sex with anything. Literally." He starts thinking of a plausible story to tell Monty.

**15 MINUTES LATER…**

"Hey man." Monty walks into Bryce's house.

"Hey."

"So let's do this." Monty takes off his shirt immediately.

"Wait. Upstairs."

"Okay." They go to Bryce's room. "Bed, shower, or both?" Monty asks as he whips his belt off.

"Wait. Sit." Monty sits at his desk. "You're not here to have sex with me." Bryce sits across from him on the bed. "Someone we both know saw you giving me that bj at my party a while ago. He came to me and wanted to know if you'd… pop his gay cherry."

"Ok. Cool. Who is he?" Clay is astonished at that quick acceptance.

"Come on out." Clay comes out of the bathroom.

"Jensen!" Monty is shocked. "I've always said you were gay, but never truly believed it."

"Thanks?" Clay always forgets just how awful Monty is, but… at least he's hot.

"It's been a few weeks so it won't take very long." Monty drops his pants. "Are you going to stay and watch?" He looks at Bryce.

"Of course." Bryce sits on his chair.

"Got a condom?" Monty looks to Bryce, who throws one to him. "On the edge of the bed." He looks to Clay, who does what he says.

Monty leans over and yanks Clay's pants off with force. Monty doesn't waste any time as he pulls his boxers down and slides the condom onto his already erect, and surprisingly large, penis. He then grabs both of Clay's legs and opens them wide, wider than needed. He slides his penis in quickly. Clay looks over to Bryce who mouths "first time".

"Ohhh…. Owww…" Clay moans.

"Oh yeah! Feel the pain!" Monty shouts ridiculously loud.

"Oh dang!" Clay moans, this time it's not so fake.

Bryce can tell it wasn't fake and is starting to feel it.

"Wrap your arms around me!" Monty shouts at Clay and he does so.

Monty lifts Clay up and begins throwing his body up and down on his penis, letting gravity slam his penis into Clay. He digs his nails into Clay's ass.

"Shit!" The pain is getting real, but he actually likes it.

Bryce can see Clay smiling like only he's ever seen him smile.

"Pull my hair!" Monty shouts at Clay again.

Clay goes one step farther and as he pulls on Monty's spiked hair, he also starts to bite his neck. He bites hard and Monty loves it. Clay moves up and sinks his teeth into Monty's hair, pulling on it with his teeth.

"Harder!" Monty shouts and it turns Clay on even more.

Clay pulls on Monty's hair so hard that a tiny chunk is ripped out.

"Fuck!" Monty shouts, moving forward and slamming Clay's back into the wall. "Oh fuck!" Monty shouts once more as his penis slams into Clay and he begins to explode. "Oh fuck yes!" Monty begins panting as he finishes.

"Wow," Bryce says as Monty slides out of Clay and throws him onto the couch.

"Now it's going to hurt to walk for a couple of hours. You should go straight home and ice your butt." Monty throws Clay his pants.

"Oh. Okay." Clay gets dressed.

"You can go now," Monty says to Clay as he just stands there.

"Okayyyy… bye." He looks to Bryce, their eyes meeting.

Clay watches as Monty grabs another condom from Bryce's desk. But then, for just a second as he's turning his head around he notices the tiny green light coming from Bryce's computer camera.

"Fuck." He whispers to himself before taking one last look at Bryce and leaving.


	15. The Plan (Part 1)

_CLAY: We need to talk. Can you meet tonight?_

_BRYCE: Sure_

_CLAY: Shed? 9pm?_

_BRYCE: Sure_

9:30 pm comes around and Clay is sitting in the shed, waiting for Bryce. The place is silent, eerily so. He can hear every little creek of the old wooden building. The door opens, making Clay jump just a little.

"Hey." Bryce walks in overly dressed in a tie and slacks.

"Hey."

"Sorry I'm late. My parents decided tonight was a good night for a "family dinner", in which they sit and talk about work while I try to figure out what food is on my plate." They both laugh at that. "You'd be surprised at the weird things my mom demands to have for dinner."

"It's no problem." Clay stands up and they hug, but it feels weird.

"About yesterday…" Bryce begins.

"Yeah… it was weird…" Clay looks him in the eyes. "I'm so sorry. For now on I tell you everything right away and we are going to work as a team. And whatever happened after I left is fine. We're even. Let's just forget yesterday." Clay goes to kiss Bryce, but Bryce takes a step back.

"Nothing happened. The fact that you think something did is…" Bryce takes a breath and cools down. "I sent Monty leaving just minutes after you. He wanted to do something, but I told him we couldn't do anything anymore. He was very angry… but I did it for you. To show you I'm serious about us… but apparently you're not." Bryce walks around Clay and sits on the couch.

"Bryce…" Clay takes a seat next to Bryce and puts his arm around him. "I know I've been saying this a lot, but it doesn't make it any less true… I'm sorry." Clay grabs Bryce by the head, making him look him in the eyes. "I've never done this before. I've never felt like this about anyone before. I just feel like everything I say and do is being watched under a microscope, which it kinda is. I'm just so nervous that I'm going to mess this up, that I end up messing this up. I am freaking out all day every day because of my feelings for you and what they mean." Clay stops talking as Bryce moves forward and kisses him.

"Shut up. I understand. I feel the same way. I think we just need to move on, learn from our mistakes." Bryce kisses Clay again. "And the first thing we need to do is end these texts."

"Actually, that's exactly why I wanted you to come here." Clay puts a finger over his lips. "We need to stop trying to figure it out who is blackmailing us. Just let them have their fun." Clay grabs his phone and puts his hand out for Bryce's. "There is no beating this person." Bryce hands him his phone and Clay grabs the phone they were given by the person for the Truth or Dare game. "Let's just lay quietly in each others arms and be close to each other." Clay quietly opens the door to the shed, and walks a good distance before placing their phone underneath a trash can.

"What was that?" Bryce says as Clay comes back into the shed.

"Whoever this is somehow is in our technology… I think." Clay walks over and sits down with Bryce. "When I left your place yesterday I saw the green light on your computer on, meaning someone was watching. And after looking at all the footage they have sent us, besides that first video here, they all seem to be from either one of our computers or phone."

"And one video they haven't shared with us is the toilet dare. And that was int eh bathroom, there was no computer and neither of us had our phones." It clicks in Bryce's head.

"Exactly!" Clay kisses Bryce.

"You're brilliant."

"Well…" They both smile and laugh.

"Lord that ego of yours." They both laugh. "What do we do then?"

"We'll text and call and video chat like normal, but when we want to discuss the mystery person or anything having to do with the texts, then we use these…" Clay grabs two old smartphones from his bag. "This is my old phone." He hands it to Bryce. "I'll have my dad's old one. We can talk on these without any worry of being listened to."

"Okay." Bryce starts looking at the phone. "Do you have anything a little newer?"

"Oh shut up." Clay hits him on the leg, both of them laughing. "I also have an idea to figure out who this person is."

"This is a very hot look on you." Bryce rubs his hand against his leg.

"Not now." Clay has to fight back how much he wants to touch Bryce right now. "I've been doing some research and while I can confirm whoever is texting us does live in town, I think I may have thought of a simple way to figure out who it is."

"How?"

"Well I tried calling the number that the texts are sent on, but it goes straight to an automated system. I read about a program that will let me use my phone to get into the phone of whoever texts me. Then I will have a few seconds where I can call the phone."

"What's that gonna do? It's not like they're going to answer."

"No… but if we were in a room with you know the entire school at next weeks pep rally, then maybe we could hear the phone go off and who has it."

"That's amazing."

"There's one catch."

"What?"

"We need this person to send you a text during the pep rally at just the right time."

"That sounds easy." Bryce rolls his eyes.

"Actually… I kinda have an idea for that…"

"That sounds scary."

"I would need to do something bad enough and get caught on my phone or computer right before the pep rally so that this person records it and sends it to you thinking they are messing with our relationship."

"Relationship?" Bryce smiles.

"Yes… isn't that what we are in?"

"I guess… just we've never said it out loud."

"Well, now we have. Can we get back to the plan?"

"Sure." Bryce looks at Clay with a look he's never given someone before.

"So you have any ideas?"

"Some, but nothing involving the plan." Bryce puts his hand on Clay's leg and squeezes.

"Bryce…" Bryce slides his hand up Clay's shirt. "We should really talk about this plan."

"We will." Bryce smiles as he pushes Clay down and gets on top of him. "We will."


	16. The Plan (Part 2)

_CLAY: Monty, it's Clay Jensen. If u come 2 the boy's room in the science hall then I'll give u a blowjob._

_MONTY: I'll b there in 2 minutes_

So Clay waits and makes sure no one enters the bathroom. Monty runs in, locking the door behind him. He immediately drops his pants and boxers, his penis already hard. He looks at me with the smile of a little kid on Christmas morning.

"So?" Monty looks at Clay. "We don't have all day. The pep rally is in ten."

Clay rolls his eyes, takes a deep breath and goes onto his knees. The funny thing is, Clay always thought what sex with Monty would be like. He thought about it for years. And then he had it the other day and it was great. But now, doing this in the bathroom with him just feels sad. All Clay can think about in this moment is Bryce. He just thinks about how much this must be hurting Bryce, even if it was his idea.

**1 WEEK AGO…**

"I can't do that, not again. Not after last time."

"Clay…" Bryce hands Clay his shirt. "It's the best possible solution to our predicament. It makes sense. He will easily agree to it."

"Yeah, but I don't want to be with anyone but you."

"I know, and I love hearing you say that, but with Monty at least I will know it is just sex, and nothing more. It never is anything more with him."

"I guess. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

**PRESENT DAY…**

"Oh yes…" Monty moans as he grabs Clay's hair. "God yeah. You're so good at this. Especially for your first time." Monty starts panting.

Clay just goes through the motions. He does what he would do to a stranger, but not what he would do for Bryce. He just continues, knowing Monty won't last much longer. He waits until he feels the sudden burst of warm and sweet liquid in his mouth. He swallows it, hating how much he enjoys the taste. He licks it clean and moves back.

"That was fantastic Monty." Clay just wants to run out but knows he has to say enough so that whoever is listening uses it. "You taste amazing."

"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself."

"Was I better than Bryce?"

"Yeah, honestly he was never great at the giving part." Clay hears that and wants to laugh, knowing Bryce gives him everything and it is amazing.

"Great to hear. We should do this again sometime."

"Yeah."

"What about after the pep rally?"

"Sure." Monty checks himself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.

Clay waits in the bathroom until Bryce walks in. they both put their phone in their backpacks and put their backpacks by the door, walking to the other side of the bathroom before whispering.

"You good?" Clay asks Bryce.

"Yeah. I should be asking you that." They try not to laugh at that.

"You ready for the plan?"

"Yeah. I'll keep an eye out from the floor with the team. You'll do your hacky thing with your phone from the bleachers and keep an eye out from above."

"Yep." He takes a deep breath in.

"You sure you can do this?" Bryce puts his hand on Clay's shoulder.

"Yeah. I've been doing nothing but self-teaching myself how to do this one thing for an entire week. I got it down to five seconds. My phone is all loaded and ready to go."

"Great. Then wait for my signal."

"I always do."

"What does that even mean?" They both laugh before kissing.

**23 MINUTES LATER…**

When the pep rally started, all the students went onto the bleachers on one side of the gym. Teachers are sitting in chairs on one the side of the gym while the football players, including Bryce, are sitting in chairs in the middle of the gym. In front of the football players is Principal Bolan, speaking about "time-honored tradition" and "the sanctity of American football" and "what it means to an American". He babbles on for a while about how great the school is. About how great the football players are, and how they "represent the best of the student population".

Clay tries hard to not stare at Bryce too much so that no one notices. But then Bryce's phone vibrates and he slides it out of his pocket just enough to see the message.

_UNKNOWN: You should c what that "boyfriend" of urs is up to_

Bryce looks straight up and finds Clay in the bleachers. He then runs his right hands through his hair. The signal. Clay goes onto his phone and quickly hits a couple of keys to run the program. It takes a few seconds, but then all the phones of everyone in the gym start to go off. The song Bad Day by Daniel Powter starts to play on every single person's phone. Everyone starts to look at their phones. Bryce and Clay just look at each other. Quickly they realize everyone is looking at the two of them. They grab their phones and look at them.

_UNKNOWN: Nice try. You've FAILED! __**LINK**_

The link brings them to an online folder with every video, audio, picture, and text involving the two of them. Everyone in the room begins to talk. Some people start to laugh. Some are gasping. Some are whispering. Some are outright beginning to make jokes about it.

Clay looks around and quickly stands up, He pushes through people as he makes his way down the bleachers. It feels like the longest 30 seconds, but he makes his way down without stepping on too many people. He begins looking around for Bryce, but everyone is starting to stand up and he can't see him. He looks for a couple more seconds before a hand grabs his arm.

"Clay." He turns and it's his friend Tony, he looks concerned. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Yes please." Clay is holding back tears as his heart begins racing.

Clay and Tony run out of the gym.

Bryce freezes as he sees the text. For a couple of seconds, he stops breathing. His entire body shuts down. He doesn't think about anything. He doesn't do anything. Then a hand on his shoulder makes his entire body jump.

"Bryce." He turns and both Justin and Zach are giving him this look, a look that Bryce hates more than anything else… a look of pity.

Bryce jumps to his feet.

"Hey, Bryce." Justin tries walking up to him, but Bryce freaks and starts walking away.

He then bumps into someone, Monty. The two meet eyes and for a second he can see sympathy in Monty's eyes. Monty, out of everyone, knows exactly how he feels. Monty understands the fear of this moment. But then a group of guys from the team walks up, laughing.

"Look at the fag! I've got a soda bottle in my locker if you want it? Or do you only do beer bottles?" A faceless guy in the back of the group shouts and Bryce can visibly see Monty change.

"Yeah. I was just thinking, this faggot probably only threw all those parties for those bottles. Are was it to watch all of the team get drunk and shirtless?" They all laugh. "Now I understand why you take so long changing in the locker room. You bust be so preoccupied starring at this beautiful ass." Monty turns around and rubs his ass towards Bryce.

"Fuck. You." Bryce continues walking away, slowly speeding up and out of the gym.

As he exits the gym he sees Clay walking away with Tony, fast.

"Clay!" He shouts and they stop.

They both turn around. Clay starts walking forward, meeting Bryce. They are about to move forward and kiss, but they both stop. The look around, people coming out of the gym and starring.

"Will you make sure he gets home safely?" Bryce looks at Tony.

"Of course." Everyone is quickly filing out of the gym and watching. "We should get going now." Tony walks to his car and gets in.

"Come with us." Clay goes to grab Bryce's hand, but he pulls it away.

"I should go home. See if my parents got the text."

"Okay."

"You should talk to your parents as well."

"I will." Clay is holding back a lot of emotions right now. "Just text me when you get home. Let me know your safe. Then we can talk about all of this. I don't want you to be alone right now."

"Thanks for caring." Clay walks to the car and Bryce goes towards his.

**TEN MINUTES LATER…**

"Just remember that I'm here if you want to talk about this." Tony parks the car.

"Thanks." He opens the door and walks out.

"It will all be alright."

Clay walks to his front door and opens it. The house is quiet, which isn't unusual. Both his parents should be home. He walks into the kitchen and sees them both sitting at the dining room table.

"Hey Clay." The room is quiet and somber.

"Hey mom." He takes a seat across from them. "Hey dad." He closes his eyes and breathes for a few seconds, his heart pounding. "Did you… get the text?"

"Yes." His mom says, his dad silent.

"Did you see it all?"

"No. But enough." All she wants to do is hug him, but she's trying to stay tough for him.

"I'm sorry." Tears begin to come out of Clay's eyes. "I'm so sorry." Clay's mom quickly runs around the table and begins hugging him.

"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about." She grabs his head and stares at him in the eyes. "You are still my perfect little boy no matter who you like."

"Actually…" It's starting to hurt for Clay to breathe as he cries harder. "I think I may love him." That makes his mom smile and she hugs him harder.

Clay looks over to his dad. His dad turns his head to look at Clay. For a second Clay can see the fear in his dad's eyes. But then a small smile grows on his face. They just look at each other and his dad just nods as his smile grows bigger. Clay nods, and in those few seconds, they say everything they need to each other.

**5 HOURS LATER…**

For the first hour, Clay and his parents just sit in silence. They hugged. They cried. The took it all in. After they all calmed down they began to talk. Clay let it all out, with a few edits when it came to the more explicit things. At first, Clay's mom was furious. She was ready to find this mysterious person and take them to court. After a few hugs and words from Clay's father, she calms down.

By the time five hours pass, they are all exhausted. But they all know there is no way any of them can sleep right now.

"How's Bryce doing?" Clay's mom asks.

"Oh shit!" Clay completely forgot about him.

Clay grabs his phone and looks at it. There are tons of texts and notifications from dozens of people. There are hundreds of notifications on all of his social media. But nothing from Bryce. He texts Bryce and waits. Nothing. Then he calls. It goes straight to voicemail.

"I'm worried about him." Clay looks to his parents.

"Why don't we go to his house and check on him. That will give us a chance to speak to his parents." She looks to her husband and he grabs the car keys.

"Thank you." Clay looks to his parents, smiling.

They walk to the front door. As Clay opens the door there stands Bryce. Bryce has one large black eye. His cheek is swollen and bleeding. His eye is red and blood is spilling out. His shirt is ripped. He's wearing no shoes. He's tilting towards one side. His lower lip is big, purple, and bleeding. Clay looks into his eyes and all he sees is sadness.

"Can I stay the night?" Bryce mumbles.

Clay looks back at his mom then back at Bryce, a single tear going down Bryce's cheek.


	17. The Night Of

It's been five days since everything happened. Bryce has been sleeping on the pullout in Clay's living room. That night when Bryce arrived, they rushed him over to the hospital. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as it looked. He needed some bandages, his leg wrapped, some ice on his ribs, and a cast on his arm. When they mentioned staying the night for observation, Bryce started having a panic attack. The idea of being alone in the hospital made it hard for him to breathe. His chest tightened. But after Clay's parent's talked to the doctors, they were able to take Bryce home instead.

Bryce hasn't spoken a single word since he asked if he could stay. Not one.

Clay's mom called the school and told them he and Bryce would be out of school for a while. They completely understood. Tony comes by every day and gives Clay and Bryce their homework. But he mostly comes to check in on them. He usually only stays a few minutes. He says hello to Clay's parents, then to Bryce. He's the only other person that knows what happened to Bryce. Or what they all assumed happened to him.

He hasn't told anyone what happened. Bryce does the same thing every day. He sleeps. He wakes up. He sits on the couch. For the most part, he just stares at the wall. When the TV is turned on he will turn his head and watch. Clay's mom brings him food and he eats. Then he continues as normal. Clay has tried to talk to him, but no response. No words. No eye movement. No acknowledgment that he can hear or understand him.

Clay's dad was going to stay home with the boys during the day while his mom would go to work, but they quickly realized Bryce was more comfortable around his mom, for obvious reasons. She stayed home and made food for the boys, mostly Bryce. She sat with Bryce and watched TV. She was putting on The Good Wife and talked about how consistent and not consistent the show is to being a real lawyer. She couldn't tell if it made a difference to Bryce, but something in her told her it did.

"Hey mom." Clay comes down the stairs.

"Yeah?" She turns to him.

"Can I get my laptop back?" She took his laptop and phone away so he didn't look online.

"No. One more week."

"Mom." Clay looks over to Bryce, who is blankly staring at the TV.

"Why don't you come and watch some TV with us?"

"Um…" He looks over at Bryce and everything in him feels fear. He tried talking to Bryce the other night, but he got nothing. He liked that he had a person that would do anything for him, that he would do anything for. Bryce was his person. But then it all went away. It went away with a loud thud. The more he's around Bryce, the sadder he feels. The more he remembers how it was, how it could've been. "No. I'm just going to read." He went back upstairs.

**2 DAYS LATER…**

Nothing has changed. Clay is in his room. His father is at work. And his mom is in the living with Bryce, watching the Good Wife.

Clay's mom just finished heating up the leftover chili from two nights ago and places it in front of Bryce.

"It's a little hot, so wait a few minutes." She starts walking towards the kitchen.

"Thank you." She hears Bryce quietly mumble and turns to him. "Thank you." He looks up at her.

"No problem." She takes a seat next to him and he looks directly into her eyes. "It's perfectly fine."

"Thank you." He repeats, his eyes watering.

It gets silent for a minute. Just as Clay's mom is about to get up, Bryce begins to speak again.

"When I got home…" He takes a second to breathe. "My dad was waiting at the door. His coat was off. He had rolled his sleeves up." She can visibly see Bryce shaking. "Rolling his sleeves up always means one thing." Tears begin to slowly roll down his face.

"It's okay Bryce." She gets closer and puts her arm around him.

"My mom stood behind him. She couldn't look me in the eyes. She never can when he's like that. She usually just grabs something to drink and sits in the kitchen. He took me to the study. He said nothing. He never does at first. Then he starts to hit me." His lip quivers and body shakes more.

Clay's mom is holding back tears and she just wants to hug him hard and not let go. He looks up to her.

"Then he started shouting. He started shouting all sorts of things. He… he kept calling me a faggot. Then he started saying what a disappointment I am. That I'm a failure. That I'm not a Walker. And I never will be." Bryce starts hyperventilating.

"Breath. Just breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth." She starts rubbing his back.

"Th...Tha...Thanks…"

"You don't need to continue if you don't want to."

"Thanks. But I have to." He takes a deep breath in. "It kept going on. I asked him to stop. He didn't. I could see the anger in his eyes. It was worse than I'd ever seen it. He wouldn't stop. He didn't stop… until I hit back. I hit back hard. Then I got to my feet, my entire body in pain. I ran to the front door. But as I looked back I could see my mom standing there. She was crying. And then my dad shouted one last thing. He said I was no longer allowed there. That I was no longer a Walker. That I should pray for the rest of my life that I don't ever see him again." He stops, looks at her in the eyes, crying.

"It's all going to be alright." Tears begin to fall down her face as well. "It's all over now. You have no more secrets. You'll be fully healed and back to normal in no time. And you have us. You have Clay, me, and my husband. We are your family for as long as you'll take us."

Bryce quickly moves in and hugs her. They stay in the hug for quite some time.

"Um… do you think you could ask Clay to come down. I think I'm ready to talk to him."

"No problem." She stands up.

"One more thing." She turns to him. "Are Alicia and Will ever going to be together?" They both laugh.

"You'll have to wait and see. We'll continue tonight."

"Sounds great."

She goes upstairs and Clay comes down a minute later. He looks nervous. Everyone is silent until Clay sits down. Bryce begins to speak. He apologizes for all of this. For coming here. For taking up his space. Clay immediately lets him know it's alright. They hug. Then they kiss. Then Bryce tells Clay everything that happened that night.

"I'm so sorry." Clay is trying to be tough for Bryce, holding back tears. "But like my mom said, it's over."

"But it's not."

"What do you mean?"

"That notebook you took."

"Again, so sorry about that."

"It's old history. But…" Bryce gets a little quieter. "While most of that notebook was filled with stuff about me. There was other stuff."

"Like what?"

"Well, that text sent out, with that link. That link had stuff I clearly wrote in that notebook. But it didn't have the other stuff. I think they're saving it for later."

"What sort of stuff?"

"Secrets. Throughout the years I've been to many parties, with many drunk kids from school. And when they get drunk… they do things… and say things. Then I would write it down."

"How bad is it?"

"Very bad."


	18. The First Day Back

"Are you guys sure?" Clay's mom hands them each a lunchbox. "You can stay a couple more days."

"It's been two weeks. It's time for us to get back to civilization." Clay grabs his backpack off the floor then looks over to Bryce, who's silent.

"Yeah. We have to do it eventually." He looks a the front door.

"Are you sure Bryce?" Clay's mom is worried.

"Yeah."

"I'll miss my TV buddy." They both laugh.

"We still have the night to watch TV. Plus, we have The Good Fight to get started."

"I've never been so excited." They hug.

"Okay, this is starting to get weird." They all laugh.

"Now remember, I'm picking you both up right after school right here for your therapy appointments."

"We know mom." They walk out the door.

"And please, just be there for each other today."

"We will." Bryce and Clay look at each other and smile before getting into the car.

They arrive at school. Park. Then sit there. They just sit there in silence and stare out at the school. They watch as kids walk around outside the school. Bryce spots his group of friends hanging around a table right by the front door. He looks over to Clay.

"It's not too late to go back."

"It is." Clay smiles and looks at Bryce, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Remember our plan. We walk in together. I'll walk you to your first class. We'll just pay attention to the class and that will distract us until we see each other again at lunch. Then we have science together. Then we only have two more classes. Then we meet at the front doors. We go to the car. Then we go to the house."

"Ok." Bryce's brain is going into overdrive.

"We can do this. Because we're doing it together." He looks right in the eyes.

"Together." They get out of the car.

As soon as they start walking together, Bryce grabs Clay's hand and squeezes hard. Almost immediately people begin to stare. But it's not exactly like either of them thought it was going to be. While the majority of people are whispering to each other and just staring, there a good amount of people genuinely smiling towards them and saying 'hi'. That seems to calm Clay down a lot. Bryce, on the other hand, can only pay attention to his group of friends sitting by the door. He notices as Justin is the first one to notice them walking up. Justin looks at Bryce and smiles. He just smiles.

Then, as they get closer, the others seem to notice and start looking over. They all start smiling, but in a different way. They start saying things to each other, things Bryce can't hear, but can tell are not good. As they get to the door he can hear some of the guys saying certain words that make his heart race. Words that make it harder for him to breathe. But then, for a second, he hears Justin tell them to shut up. But they don't. They continue. And Justin stays silent.

"You good?" Clay turns to ask Bryce as they walk through the front doors.

Just then, as they enter the school and people begin to stare again, something in Bryce snaps. Something small, but something fragile. Breathing starts to get harder. The room feels like it's rapidly heating up. His chest is tightening, the pain slowly starting to push in. Gravity feels like it's pushing him. The more he tries to breathe through it the more it hurts.

"Bryce." Clay is getting worried as Bryce stares straight forward and begins to breathe faster. "Bryce." People are beginning to stare even more. "Come." He walks Bryce down the hall and to the nearest bathroom.

Clay pushes Bryce against the wall and stares into his eyes.

"Bryce. Please. Breathe." He's really starting to worry about him now. "Breathe." He's trying hard not to shout. "Please Bryce." He places his hand on Bryce's chest. "Just focus on my hand on your chest. Move it up and down." Clay begins to calm down as Bryce's breathing starts to slow down. "Just focus on me. I"m not going anywhere."

"Thanks." Bryce lets out a giant gasp of air as he starts to feel back to normal.

"It was no big deal." Clay takes his hand off Bryce's chest.

"It was. Thanks." Bryce grabs Clay's face and kisses him. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Oh, you'd just be bored, lonely, and having awful sex with some b-grade version of me."

"Oh really?" They both laugh.

The bathroom door suddenly opens and a girl with long brown hair walks in.

"Are we in the girl's room?" Bryce looks around.

"No. I'm in the boy's room." The girl is smiling and just staring at the two of them.

"And why?" Bryce is very confused.

"Oh! Yeah!" She laughs. "I saw what happened in the hall and just wanted to make sure you guys were alright."

"We're good." Bryce is starting to remember people saw all of that.

"Thanks for checking. I"m Clay. This is Bryce."

"Nice to meet you guys. I"m Hannah. Hannah Baker."

"Are you new here?" Clay knows she must be.

"Actually, I should get going." Bryce chimes in. "I have class across campus."

"Oh, I was going to walk with you."

"It's fine. Your class is right here."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure." It still feels weird, but they move forward and kiss. "See you at lunch. Nice to meet you Hannah." He walks past her and out of the bathroom.

"You two are too adorable." It makes Clay happy to hear that from someone other than his parents or Tony. "And yes, I am new. Started last week. I'm guessing you two aren't by the way everyone is staring."

"Yeah… we were just away for a while. Did you hear anything?" He's a little curious.

"Well…" She looks away for a second. "Just a bit."

"Oh…"

"It wasn't all… bad." She puts on a smile. "Ok… to be honest I heard about everything." She starts talking fast. "And no, I did not look at the link. I would never do that. And screw all those that judge you guys. Outside of this town there is an entire world of people that will absolutely eat the two of you up." It's a lot to take in, but Clay can't stop smiling.

"Thanks."

"Now I should probably get out of the boy's room before a teacher catches me."

"Yeah." He laughs. "What's your first period?"

"Algebra 2. Mrs. Smith."

"Same!"

"Perfect." She intertwines their arms. "Let's get going." They walk out and to class.


	19. The Second Day Back

The rest of their first day back at school went better than either of them expected. Bryce kept to himself, did what he needed to do, and kept moving. Clay, on the other hand, hung out with Hannah most of the day, she had multiple classes with him. At lunch, Bryce and Clay sat with Hannah and Tony. It was for sure awkward at first, but after a while, it all seemed to become normal, and a bit fun.

After school they went to Clay's house, his mom picked them up, then they went to a therapist. Clay went first. Bryce second. Clay kind of liked the therapist. He thought it was nice to say everything and anything without any judgment or the thought that it could get out of other people. Bryce didn't have the same experience. He mostly stayed silent. He mentioned he played football, basketball, and baseball. He talked about some of his happiest moments. He talked about meeting Bryce. But it was all minimalist. He offered the least amount of information possible.

But afterward, he put a smile on and told Clay and his mom that it went great. That he suddenly feels so much better.

Then they went home, did homework, watched some TV, had dinner, and went to bed.

Now they are back at school, for their second day back. Back in the car. In the parking lot. Waiting to go in.

"You ready?" Clay looks to Bryce, who puts on a smile and looks over.

"Yep."

"I'll see you at lunch as usual, but Hannah and Tony wanted to go and get coffee after school. You wanna come? She really wants to get to know you."  
"Actually… at lunch, I was planning on going to coach to talk about me going back to the team. And hopefully, that means I will go to practice after school and at least watch and talk to the guys again."

"OMG that sounds amazing!" Clay is so happy to hear Bryce going back to himself. "This is going to be a great day. I can tell."

"Oh, can you?"

"Oh yeah, it's my new power."

"Oh, okay…" They both laugh. "You're too cute." Bryce kisses Clay.

"I know." They laugh as they get out of the car.

"Text me if you need me to pick you up or anything."

"I sure will. Bye." They separate and go to their classes.

**LUNCH…**

"It's such a bummer Bryce couldn't come." Hannah throws a fry into her mouth.

"Yeah. But I'm really hoping he can get back on the football team and start to get back to normal."

"Maybe not completely normal." Tony jokes.

"Haha." He looks to a confused Hannah. "He was kinda that stereotypical jock guy."

"Until you two got together." Tony chimes in.

"Yeah. I could tell there was more to him than met the eye. He's more complex than anyone I've ever known."

"Awww. Watching the way you talk about him makes me so jelly."

"I'm surprised you're still single. You've been here over a week." Tony grabs one of Hannah's fries.

"Hey!" They laugh. "I don't know. A few guys have been talking to me, but most of them are gay." He looks at Clay and Tony.

"Well sorry but I'm taken." Clay can't stop smiling thinking about it.

"Me too."

"Speaking of which, when am I going to Brad?"

"He's got a busy week of exams, but he's coming to visit this weekend."

"We should all go out and do something!" Hannah nearly jumps out of her seat.

"Yes!" Clay is so excited with the idea of a triple date, or really just having a real date with Bryce.

"But then we need to find a date for you." Tony takes his phone out. "There are a few guys I know, but I don't really know if they're your type." He looks to Clay.

"I know no one." Hannah laughs at that. "But maybe Bryce does."

"Oh that's a good idea!" Tony looks at Hannah. "Bryce's friend group is so much more your type."

"What _is_ my type?"

"Well…" Tony looks to Clay and they both begin to smile. "Tall, athletic, frat, and slightly douchey."

"Hey!" Hannah stands up. "Well yeah…" She sits back down and they all begin to laugh. "Don't forget I love a letterman's jacket."

"How could I forget?" Tony laughs.

**AFTER SCHOOL…**

"Hey babe." Clay walks up to Bryce.

"Babe?"

"I was trying it out." Hannah and Tony walk up. "What do you guys think of the nickname Babe?"

"Hate it!" They say at the same time.

"Fine. I'll figure something else out." He puts his arm around Bryce. "So what the coach say?"

"He said if I show up to all practices and games to support the team and work out in any way I can then when I'm ready to play I can play."

"Yay!" Clay jumps up and hugs him.

"That's great!" Hannah chimes in, smiling as always.

"It really is man." Tony is happy to see him happy.

"Thanks. I should get going though. Don't wanna be late on my first day back."

"Totally. See you back at home." They kiss and Bryce walks off.

"Coffee?" Hannah looks at Clay and Tony.

"Let's go." They leave out the front doors.

From behind Bryce turns around watches as they all leave the school before turning around and going back down the hall. He looks out and waits until they're gone before he goes to his car and leaves. He starts driving, not knowing exactly where he is going. He just drives in silence, waiting for something to hit him. Then, nearly an hour later he stops driving. He stops when he realizes where he is… his house… or more like his parent's house. For a second he thinks. His dad is most likely gone for work, he almost always is. His mom has book club this time every week.

So he drives around to the service entrance and parks there. He walks through the back and to the pool house, which is always unlocked. The poolhouse was basically his room. He spent more time there than anywhere else. He did that because his parents never came close to it. They thought it was unseemly to sleep in a place next to the pool. They let Bryce use it for when his friends came over, thus avoiding having to be near them.

Bryce walks in and starts looking around. He quickly begins remembering all the fun times he had in there. From the video game championships to the movie marathon to the insane ragers he threw with his buddies. Back to a time when Bryce never really thought about much. Back when everything was simple. When it was easy.

He walks back to the closet. Goes to the back and moves the last dresser to the right, revealing a vent. He bends down and opens it. Sitting in the vent is a small box. He takes it out and stands up, opening it. Inside the box are a couple of tiny plastic bags with various different pills and powders in them. He sits on the floor, letting his back hit the wall. He looks at the box and begins to think about it. Just how much those drugs used to make him feel.

How relaxed he used to be.

How happy he was.

Would it really hurt just to feel that way one more time?


	20. The Talks

**FRIDAY…**

"Have fun at practice today." Clay gives Bryce a kiss before Bryce walks towards the gym.

Clay just stands there and watches Bryce. All he can feel is love, but at the same time something just feels off. Once Bryce turns the corner he turns to his locker.

"Hey!" Hannah jumps in out of nowhere. "What's wrong?" She instantly notices something is off with Clay.

"Nothing."

"Don't pull that bs on me. Tell me."

"It's just Bryce." Hannah gives him a look to continue. "Well, the past couple of days I feel him pulling away from me."

"It's probably just football and trying to figure out how it all works together."

"Yeah…"

"But you don't think it's that?"

"It's something different."

"Then talk to him."

"I can't just go up to him like that."

"Um… yes, yes you can." Hannah puts her hand on Clay's shoulder and looks him in the eyes. "Just do it. Trust me."

"Okay… I'll talk to him tonight after my parent's surprise."

"Ooooh yeah! That's tonight. Take a video!"

"Yeah…" Clay can't get his mind off it.

"Coffee?"

"Yeah. Sounds great." They leave school together.

**HOURS LATER…**

"That was really good mom." Clay hands her his dinner plate.

"Yeah. Very tasty." Bryce chimes in.

"Yeah sweetie." Clay's dad goes to the sink and stops her from cleaning the dishes. "I think it's time."

"Yeah. Let's do it." Clay is excited and looks over to Bryce, who's on his phone.

"Hey Bryce." Clay's mom turns around with a big smile on her face.

"Yeah…?" Bryce is a little worried, putting his phone on the table.

"Come with us." She leads everyone through the house and to the garage.

They stop right outside of the garage door. Everyone is smiling, and it creeping Bryce out a bit.

"Am I about to be murdered?" Everyone laughs.

"No…" Bryce's mom puts her hands on his shoulder. "You've been here a couple of weeks now. You've been through a lot. And you've made Clay the happiest I've ever seen him." She looks over to Clay, her eyes getting a little watery. "We've come to see you as family, and really hope that you'll be part of our family for as long as possible. Even if you two don't stay together forever…"

"Mom!" Clay shouts and everyone laughs.

"As I was saying… Even if you two don't stay together, you'll still be a part of this family. We really want to see you succeed. And though our couch is very comfortable, I think we all would rather not have to hear you snoring in the morning." Bryce laughs, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "We really hope this will make your stay, no matter how long it may be, as comfortable as possible." She opens the door and reveals the garage transformed to an amazing bedroom.

"Oh damn!" Clay shouts before Bryce can even make a noise. "Sorry." He looks around as everyone laughs, except Bryce, who is silent and frozen.

"I… I can't accept this. This is too much." He can't stop starring at the room with some stuff from his room from his parent's house and some new touches that really show how well they know him.

"It's really no big deal. We've been planning on making into a room for a while now. We never used it."

"But… Bu… it should go to Clay." He turns to Clay. "This is his house. He should be the one to get this."

"I would, but it's just a bit too big for my taste." He puts his arm around Bryce.

"Really?" Bryce is holding back tears. "Thank you guys so much." He hugs each of them.

"But we're going to have to make some updated rules now that you have a room separate from the rest of the house. Especially about the two of you." Clay's dad chimes in.

"Of course." Bryce gives him a big hug.

"Can you guys leave me and Bryce alone for a minute?" Clay's mom looks at Clay and her husband.

They walk out and close the door. Bryce sits on the bed with Clay's mom. She smiles, looking at him holding tears back.

"As I said, you are family and you will always be allowed here. And this room is always here for you. But I don't want you to feel like you have to stay here."

"Why would I leave? Where else would I go?"

"Well… do you remember much of the day after you came to our house?"

"A bit."

"Remember when Clay and I went to your parents house to grab some stuff for you?"

"Yeah. You guys were very quick. Said you saw my mom for a minute and never saw my dad."

"Well… don't blame Clay because I asked him not to mention it, but that's not completely true. While Clay went to your room, I sat with your mom and talked to her, mother to mother. She… she looked like she hadn't stopped crying…

**THAT DAY (in the Walker house)...**

"We brought him to the hospital last night when he came to us. He'll be fine." That seems to take a weight off Mrs. Walker's shoulders. "He just needed a cast, some stitches, and lots of rest."

"Let me…" She grabs her bag and begins searching through it. "Let me pay for that. I'm sorry. I'm not normally this unorganized."

"Please." Clay's mom puts her hand on Mrs. Walker's hand. "It's no big deal. I just want to talk to you and you and Bryce. I've told Bryce he can stay with us as long as he needs, and that's completely true. But I"m sure you know it's not a long term solution."

"I know." Mrs. Walker takes a deep breath. "I"m talking to my husband and trying to convince him to let Bryce back."

"I think we both know that that is not a solution." They sit in silence for a minute. "How many times has this happened?" Mrs. Walker looks up in shock, her eyes watery.

"This is the sixth time. And it's not even the worst it's gotten." Clay's mom is shaken by this.

"Then… I don't feel comfortable letting Bryce come back here… at least not until something changed drastically."

"Bu…" She stops herself. "I understand. Thank you for watching after him."

"It's really no big deal. But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Who's watching after you?" Mrs. Walker sits up, shocked at that response.

"What do you mean? I'm perfect." She puts on this big smile, a smile that's as far from a smile that one can be.

"If you ever change your mind about that I'll be right here. I'm a lawyer and have many friends in the sheriff's department that would be willing to help."

"That's really not necessary." Mrs. Walker stands up and walks over to a table, pulling out a checkbook, writing on it, then ripping a check out before walking back to Clay's mom. "This should more than cover all his medical bills along with anything he may need while at your house."

Clay's mom grabs the check and stands up.

"If you ever want to see your son again. Or even speak to him. Things need to change. Here's my number." She hands Mrs. Walker her business card and turns to the door, Clay coming down with a few bags of stuff. "Go to the car, I'll be right there." Clay walks out.

"Goodbye." She turns to leave.

"Wait." She turns back around. "Please… tell him…"

"He knows. But it's not my job to tell him." Clay's mom walks out, leaving Mrs. Walker standing there in silence, by herself.

**PRESENT TIME…**

"I didn't hear from your mom again until yesterday."

"Really?" Bryce truly thought the story was over.

"She wanted to let me know that she has separated from your dad. She asked me for a good lawyer. She wanted me to let you know that she wants to meet with you. She wants to talk. But she wants to make sure you are ready for that first. I told her I would tell you and let you make that decision on your own."

"Wow." Bryce is shaken.

"If you don't wish to talk to her that's fine. If you do, then we'll make sure it happens exactly the way you need it to happen. To make you as comfortable as possible."

"Thank you." Bryce hugs her.

"It's really no problem. I'm just sorry I lied to you all this time."

"I understand. You did it because you care about me."

They both take deep breaths and pull themselves together.

"I'm gonna head in. I'll let Clay know you're ready for him." She stands up off the bed.

"Actually," She looks down at him. "I think I just need to be by myself right now. To think."

"Of course. I'll let him know." She leaves the room.

Bryce just sits there, staring a the wall. His mind goes a million miles a minute. He sits there until he's too tired to sit anymore. Then he lays there and thinks. He lays there until he's too tired to stay awake, slowly falling asleep on top of his new bed in his new room.


	21. The Club

**SATURDAY…**

Bryce wakes up on top of his bed. Though he knows he slept fine, it feels like he didn't a wink. So he just lays there. He stares up to the ceiling. He watches the fan go around, counting each rotation.

"Hey. You awake?" Bryce hears a quiet lock on the door and he jumps off the bed and to his feet.

"Come in." Clay walks in.

"Are you wearing the same clothes as last night?"

"Oh." Bryce doesn't realize it. "I guess. I fell asleep with them on."

"Okay." Clay walks up and gives Bryce a big kiss. "You excited for tonight?"

"What's tonight?" Bryce walks over to his dresser.

"The triple date." Bryce still looks confused. "The one with Tony, Brad, Hannah, and one of Tony's friends."

"Oh yeah!" He suddenly remembers. "So what's the plan exactly?" He looks through his shirts.

"We'll all have dinner at someplace out of town that Tony found. After that, we'll go to this club that Brad's roommate works out and can get us in for free."

"Okay."

"Well…" Clay walks up to Bryce, sliding his hand onto his shoulder. "My parents have gone to the store and we have 'til five for the date, so… maybe…" Clay gets really close to Bryce.

"Actually…" Bryce steps back with a shirt. "I was planning on going for a run to the gym and meet some of the guys to do some training."

"Oh…" Bryce takes his shirt off.

"Don't worry. I'll be back way before the date."

"Oh yeah. I wasn't worried. I guess I'll see ya later."

"Yeah. Bye." Bryce walks out.

"Bye."

**4:30 PM...**

Bryce runs into his room, sweaty and tired. He instantly takes his shirt off and throws it in the hamper before his bedroom door opens.

"Knock much?" Bryce doesn't turn around to see who it is.

"We've got to leave soon Bryce. Where've been?" Bryce turns to face Clay.

"Just at the gym. We ended up getting coffee afterward."

"I've been texting you."

"Oh… sorry." Bryce turns to his closet. "I haven't really looked at my phone."

"Well get showered 'cause we're picking up Tony and Brad soon." Clay just looks at Bryce who doesn't seem to care.

"I'm all good. Ready to go." Bryce turns around, throwing a t-shirt on."

"Really? Aren't you gonna shower? Put on a nicer shirt?"

"Nah. I'm good." Bryce sits on his bed and grabs his phone, staring at it.

"You sure?" Bryce doesn't even look up. "You know, if you're not in the mood to come, you don't have to." Bryce looks up.

"Fine. If you want me to shower I will. But if we're late then it's your fault." Bryce throws his phone to the bed and walks into the bathroom.

Clay just leaves and waits in the living room.

20 minutes pass and Bryce walks in wearing a button-down, tie, and slacks.

"Is this good enough?"

"It's perfect." They walk up to each other and kiss. "You wanna drive?"

"Nah." Bryce walks ahead and gets into the car.

Clay follows and they quickly leave.

After picking up Tony and Brad they start heading to the restaurant.

"So tell us more about this friend you set Hannah up with." Clay starts some conversation after the car ride starts to get awkwardly silent.

"Well he goes to Hillcrest. I met him at the gym. He's a cool guy that's on the lacrosse team. His name's Aaron."

"Yeah I've heard you talk about him before." Brad chimes in. "Black hair? Tall? Bright blue eyes that you said remind you of the ocean?"  
"Well, yeah." Tony laughs. "But you know me, I like my guys with muddy brown eyes." He and Brad kiss.

"Good save." Brad looks up to the front and sees Bryce just staring straight forward. "So Bryce, Tony tells me you play basketball, baseball, and football."

Bryce snaps out of his thoughts and puts on a smile.

"Oh, yeah. Been playing them all since I was just a little kid." He turns back to the front, going silent and staring straight ahead again.

"Cool." The car gets silent again.

When they reach the restaurant they meet up with Hannah and Aaron. Aaron wanted to pick up Hannah so they could get some alone time before the whole group got together. They get to their table and sit down. It all seemed normal. Everyone is talking, joking, laughing, and telling stories. Even Bryce. He seems to have snapped out of whatever funk he was in.

"Well, I didn't notice the new pool cover." Bryce continues telling a story from when he was five. "It was see-though!" Everyone is smiling and happy. "I jumped into the pool and ended up landing smack on my stomach on this hard plastic, sliding all the way down the pool."

"Oh my gosh!" Hannah gasps, everyone starts to laugh.

"I had a large red bruise over my entire front side for weeks." Bryce joins the laughter.

"Hey, guys we should really get going." Brad interrupts the laughter. "I think our server is starting to get pissed with us." They all look over to their server starring, arms crossed, on the other side of the restaurant.

"Yeah. Let's get this party moving." Hannah says before they all start getting up.

"I am so ready to get on the dance floor," Tony says as he walks backward out of the restaurant.

"Oh… really?" Brad grabs him by his hips.

"You've got no idea." They kiss.

Clay turns to Bryce and smiles. Bryce smiles back. They just look at each other before kissing.

"Thanks for coming tonight." Clay whispers to him.

"Thanks for… everything." They kiss once more.

"You guys suck!" Hannah shouts in the middle of the sidewalk and everyone turns to her. "All this kissing is making it very weird over here." She looks at Aaron, steps forward, grabs his head, and gives him the biggest kiss before stepping back. "You happy?" Everyone begins to laugh and continue walking, leaving Aaron standing there in shock for a second.

They take a short drive to this big warehouse out of town. Cars are parked all around. There's nothing nearby besides trees and mountains. They all walk up to the entrance and Brad gives the guy his name. Everyone starts to show their fake id's. Clay is getting nervous as he gets closer to the front of the line. Bryce got him a fake id a while ago, but he's never used it.

"It's okay," Bryce whispers from behind. "Trust me." That seems to calm Clay down as he hands the guy his id and he lets him right by.

"Shots?" Brad turns to look at the group as they enter the large and very loud building.

Everyone just nods. Brad and Tony wander off. Hannah turns to Clay, both of them nervous about dancing. They both smile before turning to their dates.

"Wanna dance?" Clay is trying to breathe through his nerves.

"Of course." Clay grabs Bryce's hand and they walk through the crowd of people.

As they reach the center Clay turns to Bryce. They just stand there. Neither of them knows where to begin. Then Tony and Brad show up.

"Where's Hannah and Aaron?" Tony looks around. "Too bad. Who wants two shots?"

Bryce quickly grabs two shots fro Tony's hand and downs them both. Clay looks to Bryce.

"Wow, man!" Tony is loving it.

Everyone else takes a shot.

"Last one?" Tony puts in front of Clay, who could barely handle to one shot.

Bryce reaches forward, grabbing the shot, and quickly takes it down.

"Damn!" Brad shouts.

Brad turns to Tony and they quickly begin kissing out of nowhere.

"You good?" Clay asks Bryce.

"Perfect!" Bryce then begins to dance.

Clay is loving it and follows him. They slip a few feet over and away from Tony and Brad making out. Bryce places his hands on Clay's hips and pulls his closer. Their bodies touch as Bryce pulls him all the way in. He begins grinding against Clay. He goes down and little, his face in front of Clay's crotch. Bryce slides back up. He slides around Clay and behind him. As they move their hips to the beats of the song, Bryce begins to kiss Clay's neck. Then he begins sucking on his neck. Clay turns his head up, every touch from Bryce making his body heat up.

Then the song changes. It's one of Bryce's favorites. The entire club quickly switches from people grinding and making out, to people jumping up and down. It's like whiplash for Clay as Bryce separates from him and begins jumping up and down, singing along. Bryce just closes his eyes, looks up to the sky, and lets his body move to the music. For the first time in a long time, Bryce feels completely free. His mind is off and his body has taken full control.

He turns to Clay, who's standing there and admiring Bryce. He's admiring his free spirit. His willingness to let go. He's almost jealous of it. Then Clay joins in. He lets the music flow through his bones. He jumps up and down. He throws his arms up and down. He lets himself go free.

The two of them continue this for a while. Each of them let their bodies take control. They dance in front of each other. Then they let their bodies connect for a while. Then they go back to themselves. The room only gets hotter each song. Both of them are sweating bullets, but neither of them cares.

After a while, Tony and Brad come up with some more shots before they join them dancing. Everyone's letting everything go for this moment. At some point Clay dances with Tony and Tony dance with Bryce and Bryce dances with Clay and Brad and Brad dances with Clay. They have just stopped caring.

After a while, a very sensual song comes on. Tony and Brad start making out again. Clay and Bryce once again get closer. Bryce looks down at Clay. Their eyes meet as they move their bodies to the music. Bryce starts to slowly move down Clay. They kiss on the lips before Bryce moves down farther and begins kissing every inch of his neck. He moves down farther, running his hands on Clay's body. He goes even further. With his mouth in front of Clay's crotch, he begins kissing the area. At first Clay isn't bothered by it, but as Bryce grabs his erection through the jeans with his teeth, Clay pulls Bryce up.

"Hey!"

"What?" Bryce can't stop smiling as he puts his hand down Clay's pants and grips his penis.

"Hey! Stop!" Clay yanks his hand out.

"What! You're the one who wanted this." Bryce moves his hands down and begins pulling down Clay's zipper.

"No! Not here! Not like this!" He hits Bryce's hand away and zips back up.

"Whatever!" Bryce turns around and begins walking away.

"Where are you going?" Clay shouts, but Bryce doesn't here him.

He follows Bryce through the crowds of people. He watches as Bryce grabs a random drink from a table and chugs it down before continuing to walk towards the exit. They finally make it outside, the noise quickly disappearing.

"Bryce!" Clay shouts, but Bryce continues walking away.

Clay starts following him and notices Hannah and Aaron making out against the outside wall. Hannah sees Clay, they share a quick and intense glare.

"Sorry," Hannah tells Aaron as she stops kissing him.

"What?" Arron tries pulling her closer as she tries moving away.

"Stop. Not cute." She pushes him away adn quickly runs to Clay. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. He's just acting weird." He looks to Bryce who is standing against the car.

"Need help?" Hannah starts stretching.

"No." He chuckles a little. "Let me talk to him first."

Clay walks up to the car and Bryce doesn't look at him, but just stares at his reflection in the window.

"What's going on with you?"

"What? Nothing." Bryce continues staring forward.

"The you I know would never do that in the middle of… well anywhere public."

"Maybe you just don't know me."

"Don't say that. I know you better than anyone else."

"Really?" Bryce turns around, loud and angry. "You really think you know me?"

"Of course." Clay knows he does.

"Well if you know me so well then…" Bryce is about to say something but quickly stops himself and turns back to the car. "I'm going back home. I'll see you tomorrow." He starts walking away and takes his phone out.

"Bryce." Clay starts to cry. "Bryce!" Clay shouts as Bryce ignores him.

Hannah runs up to Clay.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything." Hannah hugs Clay as he begins to cry more.


	22. The Truth

"Hey, Bryce. Are you awake?" Clay opens the door to Bryce's room.

It's very late. Clay just got home after a lot of crying. He can see Bryce lying in bed under the sheets.

"Bryce?" Clay whispers, hoping to talk to Bryce.

Bryce just lays there, awake, but with his eyes closed. He can't handle talking right now and doesn't know when he may be able to. Clay gives up and leaves. Bryce cries just a little, trying hard to hold it together.

**THE NEXT MORNING…**

"Hey, Bryce. You awake?" Clay knocks on Bryce's door. "It's almost 11." No response.

Clay opens the door. He sees Bryce's bed empty and made. He walks around to the bathroom. Empty. He takes his phone out to text Bryce.

_CLAY: Hey. Where r u?_

Clay waits for a while.

_BRYCE: Went for a run_

Clay takes a seat on the bed and just stays there, thinking.

**9:58 PM…**

Bryce walks into the house, sweaty and breathing heavily. Clay is sitting in the living room with his parents and watching some TV.

"Hey," Bryce says as he begins to walk past them.

"Hey." Clay's mom turns around. "There are leftovers in the fridge."

"Thanks. I'm god though." Bryce continues walking and Clay gets up, following him.

"You barely made it back before curfew." Clay tries to speak to Bryce but he just keeps walking. "Wanna watch a movie?" Bryce stops and turns around as they reach his room.

"Actually I'm really tired and need to take a shower. Maybe tomorrow." Bryce goes into his room.

**4 DAYS LATER…**

_BRYCE: I'll b home late tonight. Hanging with the boys._

_CLAY: That's the 3rd night in a row. We haven't actually talked in days._

Clay waits, but there's no response. He then closes his locker and goes to lunch.

"So you guys have only seen each other in class and in passing at home?" Tony leans into the table.

"Yeah. He keeps going to school early and letting me drive his car to school and back."

"That's at least nice." Tony is trying to look on the upside.

"Um, no it's not!" Hannah is getting sick of this. "It's a guilt thing. He's probably doing something bad, that he knows you would hate, and is trying to do something small to make it easier on himself."

"Wow!" Tony looks to Hannah, surprised at that.

"I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking." Hannah sits back, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"Well… maybe it has something to do with his friends. He's been hanging out with them a lot lately."

"Maybe. You should go see." Hannah takes a chip from Clay. "Go check out practice, and see where they go afterward."

"Isn't that a bit crazy. Stalking him."

"No! It's more like…" Hannah thinks for a second. "Watching out for him."

"While that all seems… a bit on the crazy side, I'm not going to condone this." Tony stands up. "Just talk to him." He leaves the cafeteria.

"Or not…" Hannah smiles, quickly convincing Clay that he should do it.

"Fine."

**END OF SCHOOL…**

Clay has been anxious about this all day, but Hannah was right. He knew it. If he wanted to know what was happening with Bryce, he would just have to see it with his own eyes. So he first goes to the gym. No one is there. Then he checks out the weight room. No one if there. Then he hears some noise from outside. He goes out and sees most of the team walking over to the football field. He doesn't see Bryce with them. But maybe he's running late. Or maybe he's already on the field. He goes to the other side of the field and quickly slips in without being seen, walks up a few of the bleachers. He looks down at the field and the coach and rest of the team are there. But Bryce isn't.

He waits for a while, but he never shows up. He sees Zach Dempsey walk off the field. He runs down quickly to intercept.

"Hey Zach."

"Hey Clay. What's up?" Zach was always nice to Clay and he always wondered why they never became friends.

"Where's Bryce? Is he not coming to practice today?"

"Um… Bryce isn't on the team."

"What?" Clay's mind explodes.

"Yeah. Actually I haven't spoken to him in weeks, since before…" He gets awkward.

"B...bb… but I thought he talked to the coach?" Clay is getting confused.

"He did. He told coach that the doctors said he shouldn't be playing any sports. It's a real bummer. I was hoping if he joined the team again some of the guys would start laying off him."

"Umm…" Clay is still processing.

"I should get going." Zach smiles before running away.

Clay stands there as he processes everything. He was there when the doctor said he would be fine to play sports again. He was also there when Bryce told him he was back on the team. Then it clicks. Where has he been going? What has he been doing? Who has he been with?

He snaps out of it after a couple of minutes. He's in mission mode. His mission is to find Bryce and find out what the fuck is going on. His first thought is the shed. He basically runs there. It's empty and dirtier than usual. After that, he goes blank. Where would Bryce go? What does Bryce like to do? It comes to him that he doesn't really know Bryce. What kind of things does he like to do, besides sports? Where did he hang out with his friends?

So he goes home. He goes straight to Bryce's room. He sits at Bryce's desk. He waits. He doesn't move an inch. He sits there and waits until Bryce comes back. He rushes into his room covered in sweat. Only now does Clay notice how much weight Bryce has lost. It's not a lot, but it's enough to notice. Bryce doesn't realize Clay is there until after he closes the door and turns around.

"Oh!" Bryce jumps up a little.

"Nice to finally see you."

"Yeah. Same." Bryce throws his shirt off, wiping sweat off his forehead.

"How was practice? Where did you and the guys go?"

"Practice was the same as always. We just hung out at Zach's."

"Really?" Bryce is just waiting for Clay to leave so that he can hop in the shower. "Well, that's interesting because Zach told me he hasn't spoken to you in weeks and unless you've got new invisible powers, I didn't see you at practice." Bryce just rolls his eyes and walks into the bathroom. "Don't walk away from me!" Clay is furious and follows him into the bathroom.

"What're you doing?" Bryce turns to Clay.

"Just tell me the truth!"

"Just leave!" Bryce pushes past Clay and into the room.

"No! I'm not leaving until you talk to me! I'm sick of this! For too long you've been acting weird and lying to me!"

"I don't need to tell you everything! It's my life!" Bryce throws his shirt back on.

"Where are you going?"

"Back out for another run."

"No!" Clay steps in front of the door. "No more running. Just face me. Be a man!" Clay doesn't know why he says it and regrets it instantly as he can tell it triggers something in Bryce.

"Be a man?" Bryce shouts loudly. "You've got to be kidding me! Just because I love you does not mean you know me or have the right to know everything about me!" That's the first time Bryce has said that word, but it's not how either of them wanted to hear it.

"Why not? Why can't you?"

"Because if I tell you… if I…" Bryce starts having trouble breathing but quickly calms himself down. "If I tell you then it brings you into all of this. It makes more trouble for you."

"I can handle it." Clay steps towards Bryce, but he takes two steps back.

"But I don't want you to. You're happy. You're actually flourishing since that stupid text was sent out."

"You were doing well too."

"No, I wasn't! I never was!" Bryce turns around, taking deep breaths in and out.

"Bryce…" Clay is starting to worry about him.

"I'm sad." Bryce turns around, tears in his eyes. "I'm lonely. I feel so alone all day. Everyday." His throat is closing up and hurting as he holds back the tears. "And you can't possibly understand. That day when it all came out you had Tony right away. Then you had your amazing parents hug you and support you. I had no one. My dad hurt me and my mom just watched. I lost all of my friends. They all watched as I was in pain. They didn't care. No one did." Bryce stops, turns around and takes a second to breathe. "And for a while I there I actually thought about dying. How simple it would be to die and end-all of my pain. I thought about it every second of every day. But then…" Bryce turns around, a few tears slowly falling down his face. "Then It seemed to get better. It felt like things were getting better."

"Because it was. The first day of school went perfect."

"But it didn't. It was perfect for you. You met Hannah. You had Tony. I had no one. I was alone. I was being stared at. I was being made fun of. Every corner I turned I heard whispers." He wipes his eyes with his shirt. "And it all came back. All those thoughts. All the pain."

"But you're not alone. You have me. You always will."

"But…" Bryce gasps for air. "It's not enough. And I know it sounds awful. But I need more. I need my family. I need my friends."

"Hannah and tony are your friends."

"No, they're not. They're clearly your friends. I'm just the boyfriend of a friend. I don't need pity friends. I need people who know me. People who like me for me." Bryce takes a seat on the bed. "You wanna know what I've been doing. I've been running. Running a lot. I've been running because it is the only thing that makes me feel anything. When my adrenaline is rushing it all feels good. It's like a drug. And when I'm not running, all I want to do is die. I want to go to sleep and never wake up again."

"I can help you through. Just let me help you." Cla tries getting close to Bryce, but he quickly jumps up and steps back.

"Stop it! Please! Stop trying to help me!"

"Why? Why can't I help you? I love you!"

"And that's the problem!" Bryce is freaking out, his heart racing. "You're doing amazing. You're even thriving. And I'm just a weight holding you down. That's why I haven't spoken to you! That's why I've been avoiding you! If… if I put all of this on you it won't help me, but only hurt you. And I can't do that to you."

"That's not your choice." Clay steps forward again, this time Bryce stays still but is shaking. "I choose to help you. You can't change that." He touches Bryce's hand and that freaks him.

"No!" Bryce pushes back Clay and quickly scrambles to his closet, taking out a duffle.

"What are you doing?" Clay is freaking out as he watches Bryce shake and throws clothes into the bag. "Bryce! What are you doing?" Clay grabs Bryce's shoulder, but Bryce quickly whips around and pushes Clay back and onto the bed.

"Stop it! Stop trying to help! It's not your job! It's no one's job!" He zips up the bag. "It's over."

"What?" Clay stands up.

"We're over. I'm going to go. I'll come and get my stuff later." Bryce walks out of his room and into Clay's parents.

"What's going on? We heard shouting." Clay's mom sees the tears coming down Bryce's face.

"Thank you guys for everything. I've really appreciated it." He looks at them once more. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry about everything." He rushes past them and out of the house.

Clay's parents walk into the room and rush over to Clay who's on the floor, huddles up against the bed and crying. They both go down and begin hugging him.

"What's going on?" Clay's dad looks at the clothes thrown all over the floor.

"He… He's…" Clay is having trouble breathing, his throat closing up the more he cries. "He's gone."


	23. The Search

**THE NEXT DAY…**

Clay went to school as normal, Bryce wasn't there. He went through the day. He pretended everything was normal. While he put a smile on and looked completely happy, everything in him felt dead. He didn't sleep the night before. He stayed up reliving each and every word he and Bryce said to each other.

The more he goes through it, the more he realizes Bryce was right. That he doesn't understand. For him, things had gone pretty darn well. And compared to Bryce, it was perfect. And it was rubbing in his face every day. Bryce had to watch as his parents loved him and helped him. He had to watch as Clay's friends helped him, held him up, protected him. He had to watch exactly what didn't happen for him.

The more he thought about it, the more he came to the conclusion that Bryce was severely depressed. And even worse than that, he showed some very obvious and severe signs of it. And he never noticed. Clay couldn't help but feel like the biggest jerk for not realizing it. He was losing weight. He never wanted to do anything. He was sleeping much longer than usual. He was having extreme mood swings.

Clay knows he has to talk to Bryce. He doesn't care whether or not they're together, 'cause he knows Bryce needs his help.

After school, Clay goes straight to Bryce's parent's house. He rings the doorbell and waits.

"Clay." Mrs. Walker answers the door.

"Hi, Mrs. Walker. I was just wondering if Bryce was here?"

"No. I haven't seen him since our lunch last week."

"You guys had lunch?"

"Yes. We sat and talked. He didn't tell you?"

"No… when was this?"

"Um… Saturday." The day of the club.

"Thank you. If you see him can you tell him to call me?"

"Sure." Clay starts walking away. "Clay…" He turns around.

"Is everything okay?" Clay has to think about that for a second.

Clay stands there and debates what to say. Should he tell Mrs. Walker about everything? Or should he just continue searching and not involve anyone else?

"No. I don't think it is." Clay walks back towards the door, knowing that if Bryce is going to get the help he needs he can't do this alone.

He goes inside the house and sits down with Mrs. Walker. They sit down for a couple of hours and talk it out. Clay tells her everything. He feels weirdly comfortable talking to her. And she seems concerned and anxious. After Clay tells her everything, Mrs. Walker stands up.

"I have a lot of connections in this town. I'll call some people and see if I can find him." Clay stands up, smiling, hopeful. "I"ll let oyu know if I find him. Please, just let me know if you find him. I'm responsible for all of this. I want to make sure he's safe. It's all I care about."

"Thanks Mrs. Walker. Thank you so much." They walk to the door.

"Oh, and you can call me Nora. Anyone who cares about my son this much can call me by my name."

Clay just smiles before leaving. He starts riding his bike around town. He goes down each and every street. He looks in every little park, alley, empty house. Nothing.

**2 WEEKS LATER…**

No one has seen Bryce. At this point, Bryce's mom has talked to the police. They're keeping an eye out for him. No officially report just yet. While Clay is still going to school and classes every day, he spends all of his free time looking for Bryce. Hannah and Tony go out with him every day after school. They loop around the town. They look at every spot every day, never knowing when he might change locations.

Bryce has been completely off of social media. There is absolutely no trace of him online. The police already checked all possible ways out of town and haven't found anyone purchasing a bus or train ticket matching his description. The police found his car just a couple of days ago. It was parked on the top of the mountain, right by the hiking trails. They scoured the mountain. They looked through each trail. They looked for any sign of him… or his body. But nothing. They've hit a dead end.

But Clay hasn't given up.

"But where else can we look?" Hannah and Clay in the library during lunch. "He's not living outdoors. He's smarter than that. He's got to be with someone. In a house somewhere."

"His mom has already talked to Monty, Justin, Zach, and everybody else's parents. He's not staying with someone we know at least."

"Did he ever mention a place his parents never knew about? Someplace he would go alone?"

"All I can think of is the shed, but I go there every day and it doesn't look any different."

"What about houses with no one in them? With people on vacation?"

"I've already checked the empty houses, but I'll have to ask his mom about the vacation houses." By now Clay, his parents, Hannah, Tony, and Bryce's mom are the only ones looking.

They just sit there thinking for a while. They look through the notebooks full of notes and maps that they've been filling out. Clay takes out his phone and starts looking through his texts with Bryce. He's reread the texts at least a couple of dozen times. It's never lead to anywhere before.

"You told me once that before you two got together he used to do all sorts of bad things. How could he have gotten away with that with his strict parents?" Hannah was getting to know everything about Bryce and was curious about him, wishing she had tried harder to be friends with him before all of this happened.

"He would do it all in the pool house." Clay answers without a second thought.

"Why?" Clay puts down his phone.

"Just because his parents…" It hits him like a truck. "Because his parents never went near it. They thought it was unseemly to sleep in a place next to a pool!" Clay jumps off his chair. "I know where he is!" Clay starts running off.

"Wait! I'm coming!" Hannah runs up and follows him.

When they arrive at Bryce's house they ring the doorbell, but no one answers. Clay doesn't waste a second as he runs around the house and to the service entrance. He knows exactly where the key is from the two times he snuck in to meet with Bryce. They run to the poolhouse and Clay tries opening the doors, but they're locked.

"These are never locked." Clay starts trying to force them open. "Bryce!" Clay shouts, hoping to hear someone moving, give him proof that Bryce is here.

Hannah starts trying to look through the windows, but they're covered by blinds. She goes around the building until she finds a small opening where she can see the bed sitting in the middle of the room. On the bed, she can see Bryce. She immediately runs back around to Clay.

"I...I…"

"What is it Hannah?" Clay shouts.

"I saw him on the bed. He's… he's not moving. He looks…" Hannah doesn't finish her thought before Clay knocks down the door and runs in.

He runs into the bedroom and to Bryce on the bed. He is lying there, looking perfectly still. Next to his body his an empty pill bottle and bottle of tequila.

"Bryce!" Clay tries shaking him, but nothing. "Hannah!"

"Already on it." She starts dialing 911 on her phone.

"Bryce!" He shakes Bryce's body again… nothing...


	24. The Blame Game

"Clay?" Bryce's eyes slowly open. "Clay?" It's the first thing Bryce thinks about before he feels pain attack every single inch of his body.

"Hey…" Bryce's mom appears above him.

"Wh… what?" It hurts to speak, but he pushes through.

"Sweetie." His mom starts tearing up as she looks at him.

"Clay?" Bryce can't stop thinking about him, wanting him.

"He'll be back in just a minute. He just went to get a drink." Just then Bryce turns his head just slightly to look at the door.

"We're in the hospital sweetie. You… you…" She can't hold it back and starts crying.

"Bryce!" Clay shouts as he reaches the room, putting his drink down and running over to the bed.

Clay immediately grabs Bryce's hands. They grip each other, trying to never let go.

"I'll give you guys a minute." Bryce's mom walks out, wiping away tears.

"What's…" Bryce's throat is dry and Clay hands him his water. "What's going on?"

"What do you remember last?"

"I remember sleeping. And crying. And regretting everything I said to you."

"Don't. I deserved it. I should've realized what you were going through. Tried to help."

"It's not your fault. I did this because of me. I didn't see another solution. I saw the pills in the bathroom. I wasn't planning it. I just did it. Without thinking. I regretted it quickly. Then I heard you shouting. But then it all went dark."

"Oh, Bryce…" Clay kisses Bryce's hand.

"How long was I out?"  
"It's been almost six days."

"Clay." Bryce's mom walks back in. "The doctor wants to run some tests."

"Ok. I'll wait here."

"No sweetie. It's going to be a few hours. You should go home. Rest a little."

"I'm fine."

"Really. I'll watch him. Take care of yourself."

"Okay, but call me as soon as it's done."

"Of course." Clay turns to Bryce.

"I'll see you later." Bryce just smiles as Clay leaves.

"That boy really cares about you." Bryce's mom grabs his hand. "He hasn't left your side since they brought you in. He scared the nurses into allowing him to spend the night." She can't stop smiling, tears building up.

"I'm sorry mom."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm the one who should apologize."

"You already did. When we had lunch. You have been trying your hardest to help yourself and I only made it worse. I'm just a big problem for everyone around me."

"Don't. Don't ever say that." She runs her hand through his hair. "You are never a problem. You are my sweet little boy. I should've separated from your father years ago. I should've known something like this was coming. I should've gotten you some help."

"Can we just move on from this?" Bryce is starting to cry. "I want this chapter to be over. Start fresh."

"I'm sorry son, we can't. We'll talk some more when you get back from your tests." She kisses his forehead. "I love you, Bryce."

"I love you too."

Meanwhile, Clay has ridden his bike to school. He knows he should probably go home and sleep, but he wants to go and tell Hannah and Tony about Bryce. He walks into the school. Everyone's in class so the halls are empty. He starts heading to the office, but then Justin Foley walks around the corner. He spots Clay and walks right up to him.

"What's going on? Is Bryce alright?" Clay starts laughing. "What's wrong?" Clay doesn't know why he's laughing.

"Why do you care about Bryce now? You didn't before."

"Of course I did."

"Really?" Clay starts getting louder. "Where were you that day when that text was released! Where were you after his dad beat the crap out of him! You knew he was at my place! You know where I live! All you had to do was stop by! Where were you when he disappeared! Where were you when he tried to kill himself!" Students and teachers start coming out of nearby classrooms.

"Clay…"

"No! Tell me! How did you show Bryce that you cared?"

"I…" Justin is quietly speaking so others can't hear. "I tried. He walked away from me that day. And then I tried to stop the other guys from saying anything bad."

"Oh! And look how great that turned out! You told them to stop once or twice and they didn't listen! Then what?"

"I just didn't know what to say. I didn't want to say the wrong thing."

"So you said nothing?" Clay shouts right in his face. "It's never better to say nothing. You should've just said something! Then maybe none of this would've happened! Maybe if you'd just seen the signs! If you'd been there to see he was depressed! If you'd just talked to him and get him to open up! Maybe you could've told him you loved him!" Clay begins to cry. "Maybe… maybe this wouldn't... " It's getting hard for Clay to breathe. "Maybe this wouldn't have happened…" Clay feels light-headed and begins to fall.

Justin quickly catches him and a few students and teachers run forward to help.

"Clay?" Clay opens his eyes, a splitting headache smacking him straight away. "How you feeling?" Justin is standing in front of him.

"Like a crazy person."

"Well you definitely gave a couple of classes a good show, but you're not crazy. Just sleepy. The nurse says you need some sleep."

"I should've guessed that. I haven't slept in days."

"That's not healthy man. You can't be there for Bryce if you're not healthy yourself."

"I'm sorry about shouting at you."

"Don't be. I needed to hear that. I wish I could change what I did, or didn't do, but… I'm happy Bryce had you."

"That wasn't enough."

"And you can't blame yourself for that." Justin hands Clay a water bottle. "I've already called your parents. They should be here soon."

"Thanks. Next time I go to the hospital do you wanna join me?"

"I would love to."

"You know, Bryce used to talk about you all the time. About your sleepovers as kids. About the weird adventures you took."

"Did he tell you about Detective & Boy Wonder?"  
"Um… no…"

"It was a game we used to play. I was Detective because I saw everything and no one saw me. Bryce was Boy Wonder because he liked to swoop in and save the day. Just like he did when we first met. And… I guess when it was my turn to swoop in… I just watched." Justin looks at the wall.

"If I've learned anything lately, it's that fear is a powerful tool. It can get people to act differently. And it's not easy to overcome, trust me. But if you at least try to face it… that's half the battle."

"Sweetie!" Clay's parent's run into the room. "What happened? How are you?" Clay's mom kisses him on the forehead.

Clay and Justin just look at each other and smile, both of them realizing in that moment that everything that happened is not a single person's fault. And that instead of suffering over what they could've done, it's time to focus on the future. To focus on what to do to make things better.


	25. The Rules

The next day Clay and Justin went to visit Bryce. After Clay said his hellos he let Justin and Bryce have some time alone. They talked a lot. They both apologized. They both felt awful. Then they talked more. They laughed. They discussed the past. Then they discussed the future. They discussed hanging out. Wanting to get back to having fun together. Having Super Smash tournaments like they used to.

Justin came to the hospital every day to visit, whether it was for ten minutes or five hours. This made Bryce happy. Clay came every day as well. Sometimes he just sat there a Bryce slept. Sometimes they watched TV together. Clay's parents also came all the time. His dad snuck in some good food while his mom brought Bryce the latest season on The Good Fight for him to watch.

Things slowly started changing. Becoming a new type of normal.

* * *

It's been a week since Bryce woke up in the hospital. The doctors have agreed to release him home as long as he has 24 hours of supervision and goes to daily counselor sessions. On his first day back home he called Clay to come by. He said it was something urgent.

"What's wrong?" Clay runs into Bryce's room, sweating and panting.

"Nothing. You're evil." Bryce's mom says to him before walking out.

"I just wanted to see you quickly."

"Oh lord." Clay plops down on the desk chair, trying to slow his heart rate.

"Sorry. I just really wanted to talk."

"Sure. What about?" Clay sits up.

"Well. My mom and I have been talking a lot this past week."

"That's good."

"Yeah. It really is." Bryce sits up a bit more in bed. "First things first, because of all of the school I've already missed this year and everything that's happened to me, my mom, and the school all agree that it would be best if I repeat my junior year again. Which means I'll be going into junior year with you next year. And graduating with you."  
"And that's… good?" Clay doesn't want to celebrate just yet.

"Yeah. I think it's perfect."

"Me too!" Clay jumps up and sits on the bed with Bryce. "This means we have two more years of school together. Then maybe college together."

"Wait." Bryce places his hand on Clay's. "Since this year is already scrapped, my mom and I are going to go away for a while."

"What? Where?"

"My mom found this great facility in Colorado. It has people that can help me and my mom as we try to heal and move on to the next step in our lives." Clay is nodding. "Basically it will be reconnecting with nature, talking to counselors, hiking, camping, singing, all the campy stuff." Clay laughs.

"Well, that sounds good. It sounds helpful."

"Yeah. I think it will be. But…" Bryce grabs both of Clay's hands. "We're going to be there for a while."

"How long's a while?"

"Until school starts back up."

"So you'll be gone all summer? That's fine. We'll still have the next three months before summer starts."

"Actually… we're going to leave in a couple of days." Clay just sits there frozen. "Five days to be exact."

"What?" Clay jumps to his feet. "That can't be. This must be some twisted joke."

"I'm sorry, but it's not. Come here." Clay walks over and Bryce grabs his hands again. "I know this is insane and very last minute… but I've been thinking hard about this."

"It's six months though… I can't do this for six months without you."

"That's why…" Bryce's eyes start watering. "That's why I don't want you to. I… I think it would be best if, while I'm gone, we aren't' together."

"What? Are you breaking up with me?"

"Yes, and no. I don't want you waiting around for me for six months. I want you to live your life. And if you meet someone who makes you happy, go for it. Don't worry about me. You need to live your life and heal as well."

"But I don't want to heal without you." Clay begins to cry.

"No. No crying." Bryce wipes away his tears. "This is a happy moment. We're both alive. We have love. And we still have five days. We can make the most of it. Make them count."

"How is any of this going to work? There is no way I could find someone to replace you."

"Then you don't. Then when I come back we continue where we left off. But I simply don't want to hold you back while I'm gone."

"Then I'm going to miss you for six months, but nothing's changing."

"Whatever you say. But I want to put in a few ground rules."

"Rules for what?"

"The next couple of days. The time I'm gone. When I get back."

"I'm not sure if I'm going to agree with them, but I'm listening."

"Well for when I get back if either of us is with someone else, we promise to try and be friends."

"That won't be a problem, because I won't be with anyone else."

"Whatever. Just in case." Bryce loves Clay's determination. "Oh and here's a rule for while I'm gone… I want you to have fun. And take care of yourself. I want you to go and have fun with Hannah and Tony. Let them in. Let them help you if you're feeling bad. Talk to them. Don't bottle it in."

"I should be telling you that." They laugh a little.

"And now, for these last few days. I've already talked to my mom about it and she's fine with letting me out of her sight as long as I'm with you the whole time. She knows how important these next few days are."

"Wow. It sounds like we're about to do some crazy stuff."

"We are. Rule one, we do something we've never done before each day. We do something we've either always wanted to do or something we've been too afraid to do. Rule two, we don't talk about me leaving or the future. After this conversation, we focus on each other and having a perfect time together."

"So far I'm agreeing with you on the first one, but the second…"

"I know. We can't avoid it completely, but we cant try."

"Maybe not talking about it until the last night before you leave?"

"That sounds perfect." They kiss. "That's really all I've come up with."

"Okay. So when does this all begin?"

"About ten minutes. I need to go to the bathroom then change." They both laugh.

"Well, get going." Clay helps Bryce to his feet. "We can't waste a single second."


	26. The Last Days

**CH. 26**

**DAY 1**

The first half of the day was already over when they began. They got into the car, not knowing where they were headed. They just started driving, hoping something hits them.

"Go on a hike?" Clay is the first to chime in.

"It's cloudy and about to rain." Bryce starts looking around. "A movie?"

"That's boring."

"I know!" Bryce turns over to Clay in the driver's seat.

He reaches over and unzips Clay's jeans.

"Oh…" Clay smiles pulling his quickly growing penis out of his pants. "This definitely a first." He starts slowing the car down and pulls over.

"No. Keep driving." Bryce leans over and down, taking Clay's penis into his mouth.

Clay continues driving as Bryce moves his head up and down, taking Clay's penis down the back of his throat. Clay doesn't last very long before he starts to climax. He presses hard on the gas pedal. The car goes zooming for just a few seconds as he explodes into Bryce's mouth. Then, just as he finishes and Bryce swallows it all down, Clay pulls the car over and brakes.

"Wow." Clay can't stop smiling.

"Yeah." Bryce comes up and wipes some cum off his lips. "It's been a while."

"Yeah. It sure has." They look at each other and start kissing.

For the next hour, they just kiss, run their hands on each other's bodies and through each other's hair. After that, they go and get some ice cream. They walk around town and just talk. They laugh. They tell old stories about their childhood. It's all just very relaxing. Then, as the sun goes down, they drive back to Bryce's house. They kiss goodnight. Then Clay rides his bike home.

**DAY 2**

They both woke up early. Neither could truly sleep. Clay was thinking about Bryce leaving. Bryce was thinking about leaving Clay. Clay rode his bike to Bryce's house. When he arrived Bryce let him in.

"So where's our first stop of the day? Clay grabs Bryce's hand.

"Actually, I was thinking we start in the kitchen." He walks Clay over to the kitchen. "I was thinking we do some cooking today."

"You know I've never cooked anything other than popcorn and frozen pizzas my entire life, and they rarely come out without being black."

"I know. And you know I've literally done nothing but heat up pop-tarts."

"So this is going to be interesting."

"That's what I was thinking." They both laugh.

"Can we bake a cake?"

"Of course!" They laugh as they go into the fridge and start pulling out ingredients.

"So where do we start?" Clay looks around at the various and very random things they pulled out of the fridge.

"Breakfast? Pancakes?"

"I think… that maybe we can do that."

"Probably not, but that's what delivery is for."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Clay pulls up a recipe on his phone and they start mixing things together. They start heating pans up. Then they quickly learn that flipping pancakes are far harder than they believed. Some pancakes land on the floor, some somehow manage to stick to the ceiling, while others manage to go onto the window. But then they manage to get one single pancake on a plate.

"Yes!" They both shout, hugging each other.

"Shall we?" Bryce hands Clay a fork.

"I guess…" They each take a forkful.

The second the pancake enters their mouth, they completely regret it and spit it out onto the plate.

"Oh my god." Bryce makes a face before running to the fridge and grabbing two water bottles.

"Thanks." Clay takes a large swig of water. "Why was it so sour?"

"And so crumbly?"

They look at each other before they laugh. They then order some breakfast to be delivered while they start working on their next project… a rainbow cake!

They spent hours carefully reading the instructions. They took each little step very carefully. They wanted to make sure the cake turned out perfect. They really did. They tried their hardest. They did everything right. Or almost everything. What they hadn't realized was that they had swapped the sugar and flour. They put in how much flour they were supposed to, but with sugar. And the same way around. But, then the cake comes out looking perfect. Each layer is a different color. The frosting comes out perfectly creamy and goes on the cake just right. It all seems perfect. Until they cut the most perfect slice and take a bite.

"Fuck!" Bryce gets angry and throws his water bottle to the ground.

"It's okay… it looks amazing."

"But what's the point of it looking amazing if it doesn't taste amazing?" Bryce is getting angry.

"Breathe. It's okay." Clay grabs Bryce and pulls him in close. "We were just doing this for fun."

"That's true." He starts breathing calmly. "It did turn out to look quite beautiful." They kiss.

For the rest of the day, they make themselves lunch. And fail. They order lunch. They watch some TV and cuddle. Then they try making dinner. Mac & Cheese. It turns out great. They may have put a bit too much cheese, but that's up for debate. Is there such a thing as too much cheese? At least that's what they were thinking. Then they cuddled and watched a movie until Clay went home.

**DAY 3**

"So what's the plan for today?" Bryce opens the door for Clay.

"I was thinking, on such a beautiful day, that we go on a nice walk."

"Sure. That's sounds great." They walk out, closing the door behind them.

**30 MINUTES LATER…**

"This. Is. Not. A. Walk." Bryce is panting, sweating a lot.

"Well… wait let's take a break." They both find a rock to sit on. "When I found this trail online it said it was for beginners."

"Well, that was a lie!" Bryce bends over and runs his hands through his hair.

"Yeah…" Clay wipes sweat from his forehead. "And this heat. Lord, it's hot." The sunbeams down on the two of them. "But… we're almost there."

"Where?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Clay stands up, offering Bryce his hand.

"Okay…" Clay helps Bryce up. "Let's do this."

They continue walking up this steep mountain trail until they go past all the trees and see the bright blue and open sky ahead of them. They reach this beautiful cliff. On the short grass is a large blanket. On the blanket is a large cooler. There is also a duffle bag and some pillows and blankets.

"Awww." Bryce gets a little teary-eyed.

"It was nothing. It would've been better if the hike up wasn't so…"

"No." Bryce interrupts him. "It was totally worth it."

Bryce kisses Clay and walks up to the edge.

"Be careful." Clay walks up to him.

"Don't worry. But thanks for worrying." Bryce turns to the blanket. "So what do we have here?"

"Well, we have some blankets and pillows for later when it gets colder. We have a Bluetooth speaker and a playlist I created specifically for today. I also have a laptop with an entire season of Rupaul's Drag Race, 'cause I remember hearing you say you've always wanted to watch it but felt like it was too gay to watch until you came out and thought it was too stereotypical."

"Wow. You remembered that? I said one of the first days we… hung out."

"I remember everything you've said. Everything we've done together. But that day especially. It was the first time we really just sat and talked." They sit down on the blanket. "You told me how afraid you were about your image at school. How you were afraid to be yourself, 'cause everyone at school had an image of you."

"You know, I love you. I've known it for quite some time. I was just too afraid to say it."

"I love you too. There is absolutely no reason to be afraid. You should always say how you're feeling."

"I know. But it's easier when I'm with you."

"I feel the same way." Clat moves on top of Bryce, pushing him down. "I've never had sex outdoors." He starts sliding Bryce's belt off.

"Well… we must fix that immediately." Bryce slides his pants off and grabs a condom from the pocket.

Bryce slides the condom onto his erect penis. Clay slides above and lets Bryce's penis into his ass. He places his hands on Bryce's chest and begins pushing up and down. He looks down into Bryce's eyes. He slows down and begins to go down a little, letting their bodies connect. He slides in and out. He and Bryce begin kissing. Bryce runs his hands through Clay's hair. Bryce bites down on Clay's lip and pulls on it as Clay moans.

"Oh…" Clay moves up and Bryce starts breathing heavier.

"Almost." Bryce slides his hands onto Clay's body, rubbing them up and down. "Oh yes…" Bryce begins to climax, looking up to the clear blue sky taking a deep breath in and out.

"That was… different." Clay says after getting off Bryce.

"Different?" Bryce sits up.

"I mean… well…" clay just laughs. "It was amazing. Just more sensual than usual. I just feel like you were feeling every second of it."

"Well… I was. I want to truly appreciate every inch of you."

After that, they lay down on the blanket for a while, not talking, ut cuddling and relaxing. Then they put on some Drag Race and watch a few episodes before they get hungry. Clay pulls out some sandwiches his mom made. They eat then have a little more sex, this time with Bryce on top, a lot of speed, lots of sweat, and just a little bit of blood. Then they relax. They take a nap with each other. Then the sun goes down and they take a quick trip off the mountain to grab dinner. Then they go back and cuddle under the stars, listening to music and talking.

They fall asleep cuddled up together.

**DAY 4**

"This is our last full day together." Bryce watches Clay as he puts clothes on in front of the rising sun. "God, you're beautiful."

"Well, today is your day. So what do you have planned?" He throws Bryce his shirt.

"Well I actually do need to do some packing during the day, but I would love it if you came and helped."

"Packing?"

"Yeah. You can see my baby photos. We can just talk about stuff."

"Talk?" Talking makes Clay nervous, makes this more real. "How 'bout a nice morning wakeup call first." Clay takes his shirt back off and gets on top of Bryce again, avoiding talking as long as possible.

Eventually, they do make their way off the mountain and to Bryce's house. They go to his room where tons of boxes are everywhere.

"It already looks pretty packed up in here."

"I know."

"Then what are we really doing here?"

"This." Bryce points over to the wall of boxes and presses something on his phone.

A small handheld projector turns on from the other side of the room and starts projecting a picture of the two of them.

"What is this?"

"I made a slideshow. Our story. It's a birthday gift."

"My birthday isn't for another 3 mon… oh…"

"This is something for you to watch and think about while I'm gone. And, if you choose, to return back here if you move on."

"I don't want to really talk about this right now."

"But we have to. I leave tomorrow."

"Not until the afternoon."

"Clay…"

"No! We're not talking about this!" Clay walks into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.

"Clay. Please." Bryce tries to open the door, but it's locked.

Clay doesn't respond but just stays in the bathroom. Bryce waits, but after a while, he sits down, his back against the door.

"You're going to have to eventually come out. You're going to get hungry." Clay doesn't make a noise. "Okay. Well, then I guess I will just say what I need to say then…" Bryce begins to talk.

Bryce talks about his feelings for Clay. He talks about first meeting Clay. The first tie they kissed. All the drama they went through. How much Clay helped him. How he wished things had gone. He just keeps talking. He opens up and says some very deep things. He tells Clay all of his hopes and wishes. He cries. He just lets the flood gates open.

The day goes by fairly quickly. The sun goes down. Clay hasn't said a word. But then he opens the bathroom door, Bryce falling back.

"Oops. I'm sorry." Clay looks down at Bryce on the floor. "I'm so damn sorry." Bryce stands up.

"It's really no problem."

"Are you kidding me? I just wasted our last day together. I'm so freaking sorry." Clay is crying.

"It's really no problem. What matters is that you're out now, just in time."

"For what?"

"For dinner."

"Oh thank god. 'Cause I'm starving. What did you get?"

"Actually… we're going out."

"Out?"

"Yes. To a real restaurant. For a real date."

"I need to change then." Bryce smiles and looks to the closet. "You didn't?"

"I had to guess your size. But I'm usually pretty good at that." Clay goes into the closet to see a very nice and expensive suit. "Every man should own a nice suit."

"You're quite amazing."

"I know." They kiss and begin changing into their suits.

They leave and go into town to the nicest restaurant there is. They walk in and it feels like everyone is staring at them. And while one or two people are, most have no care in the world that they are their together. They sit at their table and quickly order drinks.

"This place is really nice. This is all very nice. It's all so…"

"Normal?"

"Exactly."

"That's what I wanted to show you. Your life can be normal. Whether it's with or without me, you can like life without fear of being watched and judged by everyone in town. They don't care. At least not as much as you think they do. It took me a while to realize it, but I hope you can now too."

"I do. Thank you so much."

They sit, they order food, they eat, they talk. It all just seems completely normal. And it is. And they love it. They love that through everything they've been through. Through all, they've suffered through. That they've arrived to this place. They've arrived at a place of happiness. A place where they don't have to think about every little thing they do or say. They're finally free to be themselves.

"Thank you for tonight." They are standing outside Bryce's house.

"It was nothing. But a real date isn't over without the kiss." Bryce moves forward and grabs Clay by the back of his head and begins kissing him.

"Yeah. Yeah." Clay can't stop smiling as Bryce moves back.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning. We're leaving around noon for the airport."

"I'll see you then." Bryce watches for the last time as Clay rides his bike off into the night.

**DAY 5**

Bryce waits by the door for Clay. He sits on the front steps, waiting. But as the sun rises, he doesn't show up. He tries texting and calling, but no answer. Then, as noon approaches and Clay doesn't show up, Bryce begins holding back tears.

"Hey Bryce, we need to leave in a couple of minutes." His mom pats him on the back as she goes back into the house. "I'm calling the cab now."

"Okay…" Bryce stands up and turns to the front door.

"Bryce!" He hears shouted from a distance. "Bryce!" He turns to see Clay jump off his bike and run up to him. "I'm so sorry. I forgot to plug in my phone, then it died. Then my alarm never went off."

"It's okay." Bryce grabs his shoulders to calm him down.

"No, it's not! I had a whole plan. I have bagels. I had your favorite juice."

"Those things don't matter."

"But… I had so much to say…" Clay starts to cry.

"I already know. You don't need to say it." Bryce puts his forehead against Clays as he begins to cry. "I want you to be happy. Whether it means you're with me or someone else. Just promise me."

"I promise." It hurts to speak as he cries more.

The cab pulls up tot he driveway. Bryce's mom walks out. She looks over to them.

"Goodbye Clay." She smiles and pats him on the back before going to the cab.

"I need to go now. Promise me you will go and spend the day with your family. Don't hold in your emotions. Let them in. Let them help." He just nods his head. "I'm not going to have my phone while I'm gone. So… I'll speak to you again in six months." Bryce kisses Clay on the forehead before kissing one last time on the lips.

"I love you."

"I love you." Bryce takes a deep breath in before going to the cab.

Clay turns around and sits on the steps as he watches the cab go out of the driveway and down the street, it slowly fading away into nothingness.


	27. The Return

**6 MONTHS & 4 DAYS LATER**

**BRYCE'S HOUSE…**

"Hey, mom! Justin's coming to pick me up! We're going to lunch! Be back later!" Bryce shouts from the front door.

"No need to shout sweetie." His mom appears at the top of the stairs.

"Sorry."

"Just remember to be back before nine."

"I know." She walks down the stairs just before someone knocks on the door.

"Hey man!" Bryce says as Justin appears.

"Hey! Long time!"

"Yeah. We have so much to catch up on. I want to know everything that's been going on."

"Of course." Justin looks at Bryce's mom. "Good to see you again Mrs. Walker."

"Good to see you too. Have fun you guys." She walks off into the other room.

"So what's going on?" Justin looks around at all of the boxes.

"My mom wants to redo the entire house. Make it "our house"."

"Cool. Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

They get into Justin's car and start driving.

"So, have you spoken to Clay yet?"

"I texted him. But no response yet."

"Okay…" Bryce notices Justin is acting weird.

"What's going on?"

"Well… I'm guessing you didn't hear about what happened at Hillcrest" Bryce looks confused. "They had a bunch of termite damage at the end of the year. It's going to take at least a year to rebuild. So a lot of their students are coming to Liberty this year."

"Well shit. That's gonna be interesting."

"It already is. A lot of the Hillcrest kids have been coming to Liberty parties."

"That sounds like a nightmare."

"Yeah, and all the sports teams have cleared all the players and doing full tryouts."

"So you have to try out again for football?"

"Yeah. And basketball. Are you gonna try out for some sports this year?"

"I don't know. I'm thinking of maybe trying something new."

"Great."

"What's going on with Clay? You guys hand?" Justin looks straight ahead.

"Oh and there's a new smoothie place in town. It's really good."

"Coooool… what about Clay?" He's getting suspicious.

"Oh and Monty is gay!"

"What?" Bryce is shocked, but not for the same reasons Justin thought.

"Someone walked in on him and this guy at a Hillcrest party. Pictures were sent to everyone."

"Oh…" Bryce understands exactly how that feels.

"His dad threw him out of the house. He's been living at the motel right outside of town."

"Oh shit." Bryce knows he should go and visit him. "Have you spoken to him?"

"Well after everything that happened with you and Clay, we never really hung out again. He was saying and doing some really… bad things. But once he was outed I tried talking to him. I see him in town every once and a while and we say hi. But that's really it."

"Well, things have really changed…" They park at the diner. "What about Clay?"

"Well…"

"If he's with someone just tell me. I can handle it."

"He's not with someone… or at least I don't think so…" Justin turns to Bryce looking very serious. "For the first two months after you left Clay was doing great. I hung out with him, Hannah, Tony, Brad, and even Zach started hanging with us. It was fun. We had movie nights, game nights, and became very close."

"Past tense?"

"It was after this end of the year party Marcus was throwing that things changed. The next day we were supposed to all hangout, but Clay never showed up. Next I know, Clay stops texting or calling back. He even stopped talking to Hannah and Tony. When I did see him he was always with these group of guys and girls from Hillcrest. I only really ever see him at parties. He's… he's been partying a lot."

"Clay…" Bryce is immediately worried.

"I tried talking to him once but he was wasted and tried starting a fight with me."

"I'm sorry Justin, but do you think you could drop me off at Clay's house?"

"I thought you would ask me that. It's fine. I understand." Justin pulls out of the diner.

"Thanks. We should definitely hang tomorrow though. Maybe with everyone else?"

"Actually we were planning on going to this back to school party at Scott Reed's house. I didn't know if you'd want to come to a party after just coming back."

"YOu're probably right. We should all definitely hang another time though."

"Of course! We've actually been talking about it and Zach is excited to hang out with you again."

"That sounds great. Thanks for the ride." They pull up to Clay's house.

"Want me to wait?"

"I'm good. Thanks. Bye." Bryce gets out.

He walks to the door and knocks. Clay's mom answers.

"Bryce!" She smiles and goes straight to hugging him.

"Did I hear you right?" Clay's dad walks into the room. "Bryce!" He goes in for a handshake. "It's good to see you."

"It's really good to see you guys too. I've missed you guys a lot. Is Clay home?" They both look to each other, giving a very worried look.

"No." Clay's dad looks sad.

"He really isn't home much of these days." Now his mom looks sad. "Want to come in?"

"Sure." They let him in and sit at the kitchen table.

"At some point, he just stopped talking to us, and when he did he was yelling and saying some very bad things. He hangs out with these group of kids from another school and usually just spends his time at their houses. He comes home after his curfew and leaves before we wake up."

"Do you know what happened?" Bryce leans onto the table.

"We were hoping you would know. Have you talked to him since you've been back?"

"No. He isn't texting me back."

"Well, we'll definitely tell him you came by."

"Thanks. I should get going." Bryce hugs them goodbye and leaves.

Bryce starts walking. He walks and thinks about everything he's heard. He only thing he knows is that Clay is acting differently and that it happened because of the night at Marcus' party. He walks until he reaches a park and stops to take a seat. He looks at his phone and text Clay again. He can see that it has been read, but no response. So then he calls. Clay doesn't answer. But it also doesn't go to voicemail. Instead, it tells him that he has been blocked by the owner of the phone.


	28. The Confrontation

Bryce debated it for a while. He went through the pros and cons just like his therapist told him to. He went through the possible outcomes. The possible scenarios in which going to this party could help or harm himself in any way. But what it all came down to was Clay. It would all be worth going to the party if he could see Clay. If he could talk to Clay. If he could get Clay back to normal. And with Justin, Zach, Hannah, Tony, and Brad all being there, he would have some support in case anything went wrong. So it's settled, he's going to the party.

"I won't be late. I promise." Bryce hugs his mom.

"Just be careful okay?"

"I will. I'm just going there to say hi to people and talk to Clay."

"Okay." She hugs him again.

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Bryce goes to his car and heads to the party. He can feel himself getting very anxious as he gets closer. Each street closer, the more his heart races and he begins to sweat. Everything about this is crazy, but for some reason, he can't stop himself.

He has to park a couple of blocks away and starts walking towards the house when he spots Hannah, Justin, and Zach coming out of Zach's car. They're all smiling, and friends. He never thought this day would come. The day his two worlds collided and merged together quite well.

"Hey!" When Hannah sees him she runs up to him and begins hugging him. "So good to see you!" She jumps back.

"Good to see you too." Bryce is so happy to be back with friends and just back to normal.

"Hey man." Zach and Bryce greet each other. "Good to see you doing well."

"Thanks Zach. It's good to see you too." Justin comes up and they hug.

"Ready for this?" Justin asks as they turn and start walking towards the house.

"Never."

"Good luck with him." Hannah looks upset. "Last time I tried to talk to him he instantly went below the belt."

"Really?" Bryce is shocked.

"Oh yeah! I remember that." Zach smiles a little. "She threw a drink in his face."

"Wow!" Bryce runs his hands through his hair and takes in a deep breath as they approach the house.

"You drinking tonight?" Justin asks as Hannah and Zach walk in before them.

"No. Trying the whole sober approach to life."

"Wow. Brave." They both laugh and Justin puts his arm around Bryce's shoulder as they walk in.

The party is already pretty crazy. Bryce only recognizes maybe a third of the kids here. A few of the guys from football come up and say "hey" to Bryce. They make their way through the party, keeping their eyes out for Clay. A few people look at him and whisper to each other. He knows for sure even people at Hillcrest knew about what happened with him and Clay last year.

"There he is," Justin whispers to Bryce, pointing to the backyard.

"Wow." He looks different.

Bryce starts walking outside, staring at Clay. His hair is slightly longer and very messy. He looks somehow paler and tired. He's wearing tight black skinny jeans and a tight black sweatshirt. He watches as Clay laughs with a bunch of guys he doesn't recognize. He watches Clay grab a bottle of something and start chugging it down. Everyone is laughing and chanting his name. As Clay finishes, he wipes his mouth with his arm and sees Bryce.

Their eyes meet. Clay stands still. Bryce continues walking towards him. Clay doesn't pay attention to his friends as they try talking to him. Bryce can see something different in Clay's eyes. While he doesn't look a bit surprised, mostly he just sees nothing behind his eyes. He almost just looks like he's not there. Bryce walks up to him and his friends. The friends all look over to Bryce, confused.

"Who are you?" One of the guys, very tall and big with brown hair, asks.

Bryce just looks back over to Clay. They all look over to Clay.

"He's no one." Clay takes a swig of the bottle in his hand, not once losing eye contact with Bryce.

"Well you heard him." The same big guy steps in front of Bryce.

"Really?" Bryce leans over to look at Clay.

"Fine. Hey Dean." Clay turns to this other kid, smaller with blonde hair. "I'll meet you guys at the car. This party is already boring me."

"Sure man." The boy walks up to me and the big guy. "Let's move it Spencer." The two walk away and Clay walks up to Bryce.

"What do you want?" His voice is a bit deeper and darker.

"I just wanted to say hello. I cam back to town yesterday and was hoping to see you."

"Really? That's it? Well, you've said your hello. Bye." Clay starts walking past Bryce,

"Hey!" Clay turns back around. "What's going on?"

"I'm leaving. Can you not tell?"

"I mean why have you changed so much? What made this happen?"

"Nothing made anything happen. People change. It's happens all the time." Clay starts walking into the house, but Bryce follows.

"This isn't you! No matter what you say, I know that!" Bryce has to shout past the music for Clay to hear him.

"Why do you care so much?" Clay turns around, angry, as they walk into the living room.

"You know why!" People start to stare.

"Don't pull that bullshit on me! If you'd cared you wouldn't have left!" Hannah, Justin, and Zach walk into the room with tons of other people, the music dying down.

"Wow! You know that's now why I left. I left because I needed to. Not because of you. You were the only reason I came back!"

"No…" Clay gets close to Bryce. "The only reason you came back because you are weak. Because you couldn't do the smart thing and stay the fuck away from this Hellmouth."

"The only stupid thing I've done is think you could handle being by yourself without me."

"Bullshit!" Clay is angry, face getting red. "The only person who can't handle being by themselves is you!" He gets almost a centimeter from Bryce's face. "If you could then you would've have taken the weak way out and try killing yourself." Bryce pushes Clay back and onto the floor.

"Fuck you!" Everyone around them is whispering and shocked by what's being said.

"No. Fuck you!" Clay gets up. "Next time you try to kill yourself, at least do it right." Clay starts walking out of the house, but Bryce follows.

"You know what?" Clay stops as he starts walking towards the car where his friends are waiting for him. "I pity you. You've changed. You've become pathetic." People start walking out to the front yard, Hannah, Zach, and Justin go side to side with Bryce. "And if this is the real you, then I'm happy we're no longer together. You're just a pathetic empty shell of a boy who I thought my world. And now what? You'll drink yourself to death? Can't wait to see how that works out for you." Bryce walks up to Clay.

"At least when I do die I'll do it correctly and not pathetically by myself." Bryce pushes Clay again, getting angry.

Quickly the big guy from the car jumps out and to Clay.

"It's okay Spencer. Let him think he's this big hero. He needs it. He has nothing else." Clay throws the bottle in his hand to the ground and they both get into the car.

Bryce watches as the car drives off and tries hard to hold it together. As people start walking back inside, Hannah comes up and starts hugging Bryce.

"Thank you," Bryce whispers to her, a single tear breaking through.


	29. The Old Friend

After everything, Zach and Justin take Bryce back to his house and decide to stay the night. They put on a movie and just sit in front of it without speaking. It isn't long before Zach and Justin both fall asleep. But Bryce doesn't. He sits there starring into nothing. He sits there thinking. He replays the night over and over. Each word runs through his head on repeat. This continues all through the night. He doesn't move an inch. He just sits on the couch between Zach and Justin. He waits until Justin wakes up.

"Hey."

"Hey. How long you been awake?" Justin sits up and runs his hands through his hair.

"Never went to bed."

"You okay?"

"Actually… I think I'm great."

"Really?"

"Hey." Zach wakes up. "What's going on?"

"Well apparently Bryce here is doing great!" Justin says sarcastically.

"Really?" Zach sits up.

"Well, I've been thinking about it all night. I'm done with Clay. What he said really was the final straw. I'm always going to love him, but he's not healthy for me. I"m finally in a good place and I don't want to ruin that. If he wants to fix himself then great. If not, then that sucks."

"You sure?" Justin is worried.

"No. But… but I think it's the best option right now."

"Then we support you."

"Totally." Zach smiles and leans into Bryce. "We've got you all day and night."  
"Thanks."

"Now, what are we doing today?" Justin looks to them.

"Actually, I have somewhere I need to go. But how 'bout we hangout afterward?"  
"Sure." Zach stands up.

"We should go to the movies," Justin suggests.

"Yeah. That sounds fun. Then maybe come back here and go swimming." Bryce stands up.

"Sounds perfect." Justin takes his phone out.

"How 'bout we all meet at the theater in two hours?" Justin and Zach nod. "Great." They both leave.

Bryce gets changed before heading out. He drives just right out of town and to the last place he ever thought he'd be. He knocks on the door.

"Bryce…" Monty answers the motel room door.

"Hey." They just stand there for a second, in complete silence.

"Come in." Monty snaps out of it and walks in.

Bryce looks at Monty, worried. His normally spiked hair is down in front of his eyes. He's wearing a red t-shirt with tons of holes and rips and shorts that are way too short and big for him. He looks around the small motel room. It's dark, damp, and extremely dirty. Clothes and food are all over the bed, tables, and floor. It smells like sweat and dirt.

"So I'm guessing you already know what happened…?" Monty pushes some food to the other side of the bed and sits down.

"Well I did hear some things, but I wanted to come and hear it from you. And make sure you're doing well."

"Well…" He looks around the room. "I"m obviously doing great. I have this whole place to myself." Monty just starts showing a big fake smile.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"The lying. Look at where you are. This is not doing great. Trust me. I know what it looks like to hit rock bottom."

"I heard what happened. I tried to go to your place, but no one was there."

"My mom and I went away for a while."

"Are you doing better?" Monty seems truly concerned and Bryce is happy to see that.

"I am. And I always wished my friends would come and check on me."

"Friends? Is that what we are?"

"We used to be the best of friends. Basically brothers."

"Very close brothers." They both laugh.

"Yeah. That made things a bit more complicated."

"Yeah… but it was always fun."  
"You're not wrong." Bryce takes a seat in a chair across from Monty. "So… tell me… tell me everything."

"It's all good dude."

"Monty…" Bryce just looks into Monty's eyes.

"Fine. I snuck into this Hillcrest party and started making out with this guy in one of the rooms upstairs. I don't even remember his name, I was completely wasted. Quickly we started having sex. Then the door opens and someone takes a photo. I didn't even see them walk in. The next day at school everyone is laughing and calling me names. It all just went by fast. Somehow my dad learned about it." Monty's eyes start getting watery. "He attacked me. More than usual. He yelled at me. More than usual. He literally kicked me out of the house. He didn't let me back in to get my stuff. I've tried going back, but he's changed the locks and… and I'm too scared to really try anymore."

"Monty... I'm so sorry that happened." Bryce puts his hand on Monty's leg. "How do you afford to live here though?" Bryce has been thinking about this and going down some very dark thoughts.

"The club down the street." He looks embarrassed and looks down at his feet.

"The… the male strip club?" For some reason, this idea never crossed Bryce's mind.

"Yep. It pays enough. Enough for the room and food. Then I get to keep any clothes from the lost & found." He puts on a small smile, trying to act like it's all great.

"Monty…"

"No. Bryce. I've really been wanting to say this to you. Before you say anything else. I just really have to tell you how sorry I am." His eyes begin to get more teary-eyed. "I am so so sorry." He starts to cry. "Everything I said to you. About you. Everything I did to you. It's truly the worst thing I've ever done. To know that it's my fault all of this happened to you…" He gets choked up.

"This isn't your fault. Everything that happened to me happened for a reason. I did what I did to myself by choice. No one made me do it."  
"But I could've been there for you. I could've helped you."

"Maybe. Maybe not. I was going down my own spiral and I don't know if anything or anyone could've stopped me." Bryce grabs Monty's hands. "I can tell you this for sure. I am not mad with you about anything. If anything I just want to help you. Helping you will help me. So please just let me help you."

"Thank you." Monty leans forward and begins kissing Bryce.

Bryce is in shock, but he doesn't stop him. They continue kissing. Monty moves off the bed and to his knees. They stop kissing and Monty quickly unzips Bryce's pants. He grabs his growing penis with his hand.

"No." Bryce finally snaps out of it and stands up.

"It's okay. It will just take a minute." Monty looks up at Bryce.

"No." Bryce steps back and zips himself up.

"But…" Monty stands up.

"This isn't the time. This isn't…" Bryce takes in a deep breath. "I'm not in a good place to be starting something right now. And I don't believe you are either. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, and I really hope you understand this. It's just not the right time or place for the two of us to do anything."

"I understand." Monty sits back on the bed.

"How about you come to the movies with me? I'm meeting up with Justin and Zach. I'm sure they would love to hang out like old times."

"No. I'm good. I doubt they'd even want to see me."  
"You're underestimating them, and yourself. I think they'd really like to make sure you're doing alright." Bryce walks over and grabs Monty's shoes. "Put these on. We're going back to my place and getting you some real clothes to wear. Then we're going to the movies and do things one step at a time." He puts the shoes in front of Monty. "You can't move forward until you're willing to try. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. Then you come back here and try again another day. Just try."

"Fine. For you." He grabs the shoes.

"No. For you." Monty puts on his shoes and they leave.


	30. The New Friends

"Lord this dude can sleep." Clay laughs as Dean slips another cheese ball into Spencer's mouth. "I'm pretty sure he could sleep through anything."

"Wanna bet?" Dean puts the container of cheese balls down.

"Of course."

"Then…" Dean thinks for a second. "Give him a bj."

"Sure. But what do I win?"

"If you get him to explode without waking up then I'll give you…" He looks around his room. "My ass. I'll let you shove it in."

"Like I haven't done that a hundred times before." They both laugh.

"Fine… then I'll…" He gets up and walks into his closet for a few seconds before walking out with a large black dildo. "I'll give you Big Joe. Not only is he bigger than Spencer, but he vibrates and suctions to the wall."

"Deal." Clay turns to Spencer and slowly unzips his pants.

Somehow he is still shocked when he sees Spencer's penis. It's very large. It's not even hard and larger than most. He grabs it with his hand and it quickly begins to harden.

"Damn, what is he dreaming?" Dean jokes and Clay tries not to laugh.

Clay moves Spencer's penis into his mouth and begins trying to take it all back. He almost chokes for a second but holds himself back. As his penis hardens more, it grows quickly and thrushes into the back of Clay's throat. He keeps going until his tongue can grab Spencer's large balls. He starts to move up and down. It's an actual chore to suck on Spencer's penis, but Clay is not giving up.

He pushes through for minutes. He can sense that Spencer is getting close. He slides his hands onto Spencer's thick and muscular legs.

"Ugh!" Spencer suddenly moves and Clay jumps back. "Wh...the...f…" He tries speaking while he eats the cheese balls in his mouth. "What the fuck?" Spencer finally swallows and looks to Clay and Dean.

"Damn it!" Clay shouts and Dean puts Big Joe on his desk.

"I bet Clay he couldn't give you a bj without waking up." Spencer just starts laughing.

"Well, you might as well finish." Spencer looks to Clay and grabs his own penis.

"Okay." Clay leans forward and takes Spencer's penis back in.

"What about me?" Dean wants to join in.

"Go in his ass!" Spencer shouts and they high five.

Dean goes forward and yanks on Clay's legs, pulling his pants down. He reaches over to his desk and grabs a bottle of lube and a condom. He slides his pants off and slips the condom on his already hard penis. He then squirts way too much lube on and rubs it around. Without a word or any hesitation, he shoves it into Clay's ass with pure force. He may not have the biggest penis or even an average-sized one, but Dean sure knows how to make it feel just as painful as if it were a foot long. He grips Clay's waist and shoves his penis in and out with so much force that Clay almost bites Spencer's penis.

"Oh…" Dean begins to moan. "Kiss me." Dean looks to Spencer.

Spencer reaches forward and pulls Dean towards him. They begin kissing the sloppiest of kisses. Their mouths are open. Their tongues are slapping around in each others mouths. Spencer's large mouth is almost eating Dean's small mouth. Dean reaches forward and runs his hand through Spencer's messy hair.

"Oh god…" Spencer moans and lets Dean go, flinging back, as he begins to explode into Clay's mouth. "Yes daddy!" Spencer shouts.

Clay swallows the crazy amount of cum that shoots from Spencer's penis before moving up and breathing.

"Whoo!" Clay sighs a breath of fresh air.

"YYYEEESSSSS!" Dean shouts at the top of his lungs as he begins to cum.

Dean quickly slips out and throws the condom in the trash before sitting back. Clay flips over and lays on his back.

"Love that tight ass." Dean licks his lips.

"God that was fun." Clay can't stop smiling.

"But you know what's more fun…" Clay and Spencer look over to Dean holding a magazine with multiple white lines.

"Yasss!" Clay sits up and crawls over to Dean.

"Wait. Pay the toll first." Dean smiles and holds the magazine back.

"Of course." Clay moves forward and begins kissing Dean.

He slides both his hands through Dean's shaggy blonde hair. He yanks on the back of his hair, opening Dean's mouth. He slides his tongue in and slides it all around. Then he sits back.

"Well, that deserves two lines." Dean hands Clay the magazine and he quickly without any hesitation snorts two lines before handing it over to Spencer.

"Damn." Clay sits back against the wall next to Dean.

"Totally." Dean snorts the final line and they all just begin laughing.


	31. The Different Days

**BRYCE**

"That was a fantastic movie. Just wow!" Zach says as they all walk out of the movie theater.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Justin turns to Zach.

"Really? That was awful!" Bryce says and all but Zach starts to laugh.

"What? The action was cool."

"What?" Justin just starts laughing.

"I could see the wires holding the man up!" Bryce says as they walk to the cars. "What did you think about it?" Bryce looks to Monty, who's been very quiet since before the before.

"Honestly… I loved it…"

"What?!" Justin shouts and everyone starts to laugh.

"What? It was fun and the main actor was really hot." IT feels weird to say it, but Monty is finally feeling comfortable.

"That's true." Bryce chimes in and they laugh. "It's getting hot out so how 'bout we head to my place to go swimming and get some real food?"

"Sounds great!" Zach opens his car door.

"Yeah. See you there." Justin jumps into Zach's car.

They quickly drive off. Bryce and Monty get into Bryce's car. They start driving off.

"Thank you." Monty just says out of nowhere.

"For what?"

"For all of this. For the first time in months, I'm happy and not thinking about everything wrong."

"I'm happy that you're happy." They drive off.

**CLAY**

"So what now?" Clay sits up in the bed, naked, and runs his hands through his hair.

"Rest. I'm tired." Spencer laughs and rolls over to his side, his flaccid penis smacking Clay's leg.

"Come on. Round three." Clay looks over to Dean on the other side of him and slaps his bare butt.

"Really? I'm sore." Dean forces himself to sit up.

"Oh come on wimps. Let's do a line or two and get back to it."

"We're out man." Dean gets off the bed and walks to the mirror to look at himself.

"What? Out?" It shocks Clay and he jumps out of bed.

"Yeah, we finished the last of it."

"Then let's get some more!"

"Shh…" Spencer closes his eyes on the bed.

"I need to wait until my parents give me my weekly allowance. It comes to my account every Monday." Dean starts moving his hair around, admiring himself.

"That's two whole days…" Clay whines and kisses Dean's neck from behind.

"Sorry bud…" Clay moves up and continues kissing Dean.

"Come on. You don't have just a little?" Clay starts to nibble on Dean's earlobe.

"Well…" Dean bites his lip as Clay slides his body against Dean's. "Maybe I could find something…" Dean moans as Clay grabs his soft penis.

"Thanks." Clay moves in front of Dean and down to his knees.

"Oh…" Dean moans as he looks at himself in the mirror and Clay takes his penis into his mouth.

**BRYCE**

"Towels are in the bin there and if you want any floaties or toys there in the pool house closet now," Bryce says as they all walk into the pool area. "I'll go and grab you a suit Monty." He walks off to the house and Justin runs into the pool house.

"So you ready for school on Monday?" Zach takes his shirt off as he sits down across from Monty.

"No." He laughs.

"Well if you need anything man, I'll be here for you."

"Thanks. That really means a lot. And I just wanna say that I'm sorry for the things I've said and done before."

"It's all over now man. Let's move on and have a great new year at school."

"Totally." Monty stands up. "You gonna jump in the pool?"

"Nah."

"Really? Why not? Your hair?" Monty laughs but knows just how much effort Zach puts into his hair.

"No! Just not in the mood."

"Really?"

"Heads up!" Justin shouts from afar as he throws a football.

"Got it!" Zach shouts and jumps up to catch it.

"Nice!" Justin shouts before cannonballing into the pool.

"Oops." Monty say right before pushing Zach into the pool.

"Monty!" Zach shouts as he comes up from the water with his hair all in front of his face.

"Yes!" Justin shouts and they all start to laugh.

"Hey Monty." Bryce walks up. "Here." He hands him a bathing suit.

"Thanks man."

"No problem. Can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure." Monty is a little worried as they walk into the pool house.

"So I just talked to my mom and we wanted to know if you'd like to move in here?" Monty is in shock, silent. "Of course there would be many rules and things that would need to change and happen for it to work. Like no drinking, no drugs, therapy, join my mom and me with daily yoga and workouts. Stuff like that."

"Umm…" Monty starts tearing up.

"Oh Monty." Bryce goes in and hugs him. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes. Definitely." They move back. "Thank you so much. I will work so hard to make it all worth it."

"Great. Now let's go and have some responsible fun."

"That sounds great." Monty runs out and jumps into the pool, splashing Justin and Zach.

**CLAY**

"So where exactly are we going?" Clay looks out the car window at the woods.

"This is where I always meet my dealer." Dean turns down a small dirt path.

"It's a bit brighter and happy than I imagined a drug deal going down," Clay says and Spencer laughs from the back seat.

"Just stay in the car and don't look him straight in the eyes."

"Really?" Clay turns to Dean.

"No!" They all laugh. "He's pretty chill." They stop as they see two men standing there.

"Two guys?" Clay notices one is younger around their age and the other is much older. "What's going on?"

"I don't know." They step out of the car and Spencer stays in. "Hey man," Dean says as they walk up, but both guys look very serious and angry.

"You owe us from the last two times." The younger guy says.

"You know I've got you. I'll get it to you on Monday." Dean goes to shake his hand but gets ignored.

"We need the money now." The bigger and older man's deep voice rattles Clay, who is staying silent at Dean's side.

"Yeah. Totally man. I understand." Dean licks his lips, getting a little nervous. "Just give me enough to make it to Monday and not only will I pay you what I owe you but I'll buy loads more."

"We can't wait until Monday man. We need the cash now." The younger one walks up and lifts up his shirt, showing the gun in his pans.

"Dude!" Dean starts to freak out and Clay gets frozen in fear.

"Give us the money." He grips the gun and Dean quickly reaches into his pocket.

"Dude I don't have enough." He starts shuffling through his wallet. "Clay!" he looks to Clay.

Clay reaches into his pocket and pulls as much cash as he has.

"I've got…" Clay's hands are shaking. "$53." He drops it all on the ground. "Shit."

"I've only got $123." The bigger man walks up and grabs the money from both of them.

"You still owe us. What else you got?" The younger one looks down at Dean's expensive sneakers.

"Really?" Dean then takes his shoes off and hands them over.

"And you." He looks to Clay, scanning him up and down. "Nevermind." For some reason that makes Clay angry.

"Really?" Clay shouts and Dean looks over to him. "Come on. I can give you plenty to pay for his debt and more."

"Really?" The younger guy smiles and walks up to Clay. "What do you have for this?" He pulls out a large bag of white powder from his pocket and waves it in front of Clay's face.

"I give a mean bj." Clay smiles.

"If it's as good as you say…" The man pulls his pants down, the gun on the ground.

"Trust me. It's better." Clay goes down to his knees.

Dean looks over in utter shock as to what Clay is doing. The older man turns around, not wanting to watch this. Spencer, from the car, is starring amazed at everything. Clay, right as he faces the younger man's penis, quickly yanks the man's pants. The man falls down. Clay grabs the gun and points it towards the guy. The big man turns around and puts his arms up.

"Oh shit!" Dean shouts, smiling and jumping up and down.

"Empty your pockets!" Clay shouts, smiling and shaking with excitement.

The older man throws a couple of bags of powder, some cash, and car keys onto the floor. Dean runs up and grabs it all. He then throws the keys into the woods. Clay starts waving the gun down at the younger man, laughing. The younger man looks scared and starts to whimper.

"Let's go!" Dean shouts at Clay.

"Fine." Clay throws the gun in the bushes and they quickly run to and into the car.

"Damn!" Spencer shouts as they get in.

"That was crazy!" Dean shouts as he drives forward and then men jump out of the way. "You're nuts man!" Dean looks over to Clay.

"Well, we got what we want." Clay pulls the bag of white powder from the pants and they all start to laugh.


	32. The First Day

"Come in." Monty says after hearing a knock on his door.

"Hey." Bryce walks in. "You ready for today?"

"Not at all." Monty walks into the bathroom.

"Well it's going to be fine. Just push through and remember at the end of the day you've got me, Justin, and Zach here for you." He sits on the bed.

"That does help a lot." He walks back into the room. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah. Great."

"Are you maybe trying to sound more positive than you really are?" Monty smiles and sits at the desk across from Bryce.

"Maybe…" They both laugh. "I just don't even know what's going to happen if I see Clay."

"You may not even see him."

"With my luck, I'll have multiple classes with him."

"Don't think that way. Think positive."

"Look at you!" Bryce smiles. "All positive and everything."

"Well, I've been talking to your mom a lot. And I've been reading the books she gave me."

"Lord! You actually read those? I couldn't make it past the first chapter for any of them!" They both laugh."Well, we should really be going."

"Where's your mom. I really want to thank her for buying these clothes and well, everything."

"She was hoping to actually talk to you as well, but she had an early morning meeting. But she says she wants to have dinner with just you tonight to talk."

"Is that alright with you?"  
"Oh yeah. Of course. I'm actually going to meet Mrs. Jensen tonight. She called and said she wanted to talk."

"Wow…"

"Yeah…"

They both just start to laugh.

"Lord the world is crazy." Bryce stands up. "Let's get going before we're late."

**THAT EVENING**

The first day of school was pretty boring for everyone. Bryce, so far, has no classes with Clay. But he does have at least one friend in each. Monty and Bryce have a couple of classes together. Bryce didn't see Clay at all. For all he knows, Clay never came to school. Monty did freak out a little when running into some guys from the team, but they were pretty cool with him. Maybe a little awkward, but nothing bad. Monty and Bryce sat with Justin, Hannah, and Tony at lunch. It all went by pretty smoothly.

After school Bryce and Monty went to the coffeehouse with Zach, Justin, Hannah, and Tony. They hung out and had some actual fun. Well… they were having fun, until…

"Bryce," Hannah whispers into Bryce's here. "Look." She turns Bryce to look at the coffeehouse doors.

"Oh…" Justin also notices as Clay walks in with Dean and Spencer.

Clay looks over for just a second, not a single care in the world, as he walks up and orders his drink. Clay, Dean, and Spencer all walk over to the other side to wait for their drinks. They just begin talking and laughing. Bryce can't stop himself from starring, and neither can the others. But then they get their coffee. Clay reaches over and kisses Dean on the lips. Dean puts his hand on the back of Clay's head and holds him there. They open their mouths and can easily be seen shoving their tongues into one another. Then they stop, Dean slaps Clay's ass. They begin walking out and Clay just smirks at Bryce before leaving.

"Wow." Hannah is the first one to say anything.

"Yeah." Justin says and they all look over to Bryce.

"What the fuck was that?" Bryce says before he begins laughing.

Everyone else begins laughing with him.

"I should really get going you guys." Bryce stands up. "But this was really fun."

"Boo. We were having so much fun." Hannah stands up and hugs him.

"Next time." Bryce hugs everyone else goodbye. "You got a ride?" He asks Monty.

"Yeah. Zach's going to drop me off later."

"Great." Bryce walks out and looks back in through the window, his friends laughing and having fun.

Seeing this truly brings him joy. This time last year he never would've seen himself in this position, this happy. As he turns around he finds himself bumping into someone. He looks up and looks into the eyes of a very handsome boy with the most beautiful smile.

"Hi." His voice is smooth and makes Bryce smile.

"Hi."


End file.
